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Writer's pictureAlan Fung
Oct 14, 20225 min read

The takeaway-October 14, 2022

The Takeaway-October 14, 2022


Nikolas Cruz: Parkland School Shooter 


Gets Life in Prison for Killing 17 people in February 2018 School Shooting



Yesterday, October 13, 2022, Nikolas Cruz will get Life in Prison without Parole after a jury were unable to come to a unanimous consensus to recommend the Death Penalty for taking away 17 innocent lives in the Parkland shooting almost five years ago in Feburary 2018 when he is sentenced on November 1, 2022 by Judge Elizabeth Scherer. 


Upon Nikolas’ arrest, he received 34 criminal charges. 17 for murder and the other 17 for attempted murder. 


I can’t call anything else other than a “killer,” “school shooter,” or “murder” because according to an article fron the CNN in September 2021, the honroable Judge Scherer will not allow witnesses or prosecutors to any words other than the 3 “quoted” words and phrases the judge wanted them to say during the trial. 


I think he should’ve gotten the death penalty. Remember the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013? The perpetrator killed 3 people and injured many people at the Finish line. The perpetrator 


Ok, let’s go back to the shooting 4 years ago in February 2018. 


The Actual Incident


On February 14, 2018 Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time of the incident went to Stoneman Douglas High School near Miami, Florida via an uber ride. According to prosecutor Michael Satz, he came with an “AK-15 style rifle,” which he illegally obtained and plenty of ammo. 


Upon arriving at the school, he shot and killed 14 innocent students aged between 14 and 18 years old including a 14-year old Alex Schatcher in which an upset Max Schatcher said during the Death Penalty hearing on October 13, 2022: 


“Prior to the shooting the Parkland murderer (Nikolas) said he wanted to kill 20 people. He stopped after killing 17 including my sweet little boy Alex. Afterwards he didn’t want to die. He wanted to live. Today he got everything he wanted. While our loved ones are in the cemetery.”


-Max Schachter



From what I have heard in the quote, Max felt that giving him the life sentence was not the right decision based on the fact he will never get his son back, and from my point of view, giving Nikolas the life sentence is a mistake sure he would have to be in prison for the rest of his life while his slain son stays imprisoned lifeless in the graveyard. Why in the first place did Nikolas decided to murder more than he actually did? I will explain it later.


Alyssa Alhadeff was another person dead among the 14 students that have died who is notable within the locality of Parkland, Florida. Her father Ilan felt disappointed about the sentencing. During the October 13 death penalty hearing he said the following:


“I pray that animal suffers every day of his life in jail, and that he has a short life. It doesn’t matter. We still have to go to the cemetery to see our daughter”


-Illan Alhadeff 

Alyssa’s mother also said the following:

 

“What is the death penalty for if not for the killing of 17 people?”


-Lori Alhadeff 


In addition to the 14 students dead, 3 staff members were also killed including a 35-year old geography teacher, 37-years old security guard who was also part of the high school football team, and 49-year old athletic director of Stoneman Douglas High. 


In addition to that mass murder spree there, he also injured 17 others some of them winning a humanitarian award for their actions including Anthony Borges who was the last victim to be released from the hospital succuming to 5 gunshot wounds after being shot by Nikolas Cruz and is notable for being super tough and was given a humanitarian award at the BET Awards in 2018. 


Although Anthony stayed strong throughout the tragic incident, some survivors were not able to make a comeback as some struggled mentally as with 19-year old Sydney Aeillo who committed suicide in March 2019, thirteen months after the incident due to survivors guilt and post tramatic stress disorder due to the fact she couldn’t appear in a classroom. 


Based on the sources, I found that a traumatic incident like the Parkland School Shooting took a dramatic toll on the person’s mental state of mind. With the help of technology and post Covid-19 pandemic it has given people many options to take online classes (primarily the ones in college and online schools)


I feel bad for these people who have lost their lives with an ambitious future coming up for them. For Nikolas, it seems that he was almost impossible to deal with as he was expelled from numerous schools including Stoneman High in Parkland, Florida due to his behavior problems for the majority of his life. He also posted some disturbing contents on Social media including Facebook and Youtube, writing disturbing and threatening posts which got the FBI involved where he offended at black/africans and muslims, has ties with the white supremacists.


What was more disturbing is the fact that he plotted the school shooting saying the following:


“I would shoot people with my AR-15.”


-Nikolas Cruz 


The family that was raising him had no idea about the warning signs of Nikolas Cruz when the shooting happened, according to the family’s attorney from CNN news other than the fact that Nikolas did not want to get up to go for GED class. The last family Nikolas was in was very nice since they were helping him prepare for his future which included motivating him to go to class by having Nikolas’ Stepfather drive him to his GED class and work at a Dollar Tree store. 


Additionally, his family were also aware that Nikolas owned a gun, and advised him to keep it locked in a lockbox in which Nikolas had a key to access it. This could be the turning point, in my opinion, where the family now knew upon the date of the shooting they realized that Nikolas Cruz in words I should say “can’t be controlled.”

Why can he not be controlled? According to CNN news, it stated that prior to the day before the shooting, Cruz was taking one of his relatives who also goes to Stoneman High via text as friendly and just curious what was going on in his life and what was on his mind, just like all the other normal people talk to him. 


Nikolas Cruz is a man with a lot of unpredictability going on in his mind.  


From all the information so far, I think it would justify that Cruz should get more of a death sentence than a life sentence from all the upset about the jury verdict yesterday. According to CNN, Broward County sheriff told them they has gotten numerous calls related to Nikolas or his brother between 2008 and 2017. 


In September 2016, officials warned about Nikolas' damaging mental state that he should be put under mental evaluation after documents given to a behavioral health facility by Nikolas’ mother.  Those documents showed or told that Nikolas wrote the word kill in the notebook, and told a student at one of the schools he used to go to that he wanted to buy a gun.


He also attacked a police officer while he was in jail and was charged with aggravated assault, battery on an office, and use of electric or chemical weapon against an officer in November 2018. Apparently a police officer at a Jail Nikolas was imprisoned and apparently asked not to be dragging his sandals on the ground, and apparently answered back with putting up the middle finger at the office. 


Remember, if a police officer tells you something no matter where you are you have to respect their orders. 


Now back to that story. After Nikolas gave the officer a middle finger he and the officer got into an altercation. During the altercation he was able to grab the officer’s stun gun in which, luckily the weapon was discharged and the officer was able to stop Nikolas from causing any further harm. 


Putting Nikolas Cruz in prison for the rest of his life and potentially releasing him out into the public is potentially dangerous for the public and the people who were affected by the incident. There are so many reasons in the post he should get the death penalty rather than life in prison. 

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