Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
On February 14, 2018, a tragic shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz entered the school and opened fire, resulting in the deaths of 17 individuals and injuring 17 others. This incident marked the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. Cruz, a former student who had been expelled for disciplinary issues, carried firearms and ammunition into the school, targeting students and staff in a violent rampage that lasted a mere few minutes. Following his arrest, Cruz was found guilty of multiple charges, leading to life sentences without the possibility of parole. The aftermath of the shooting spurred significant advocacy efforts, including the formation of the student-led movement "Never Again MSD," which aims to address gun violence and influence policy changes. In response to the tragedy, Florida enacted new gun control measures, including a higher age requirement for gun purchases and mandated waiting periods. The events surrounding the shooting have led to ongoing discussions about mental health, gun laws, and school safety, as many survivors continue to cope with the trauma.
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Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
On Valentine’s Day in 2018, a 19-year-old man entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and opened fire. Nikolas Cruz was found guilty of killing seventeen people and injuring seventeen others. The shooting, at that time, was the deadliest high school shooting in the history of the United States. Cruz was a former student at the Parkland high school before he was expelled for disciplinary reasons. He fired multiple rounds inside the school before situating his rifle and firing, like a sniper, at those running outside. The school’s hurricane-resistant windows kept the death toll from climbing higher. On November 2, 2022, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of his seventeen first-degree murder charges. He also received life sentences for each of the seventeen attempted first-degree murders.
Background
Nikolas Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2017 and considered a risk to student safety. While attending the school, Cruz was known to dress in black or camouflage and have swastikas on his backpack. When he was spotted at the school on February 14, 2018, he was carrying a duffle bag and wearing a backpack. Inside the bags were ammunition cartridges, a rifle, and smoke grenades.
Overview
Cruz entered the high school at 2:21 p.m., first in the school’s Freshman Building, also known as Building 12. The building held roughly 900 students, in addition to teachers and staff. He took his rifle out in a stairwell before walking into a first-floor hallway, where he fired his first bullets. In less than two minutes, he killed eleven people, injured thirteen others, and shot out windows and doors. From there, he headed upstairs, where he continued firing, but did not hit anyone. Finally, he headed to the third floor, where he killed six more people and injured four. Cruz spent less than one minute on the third floor.
At 2:28 p.m., Cruz left his rifle in a different stairwell and fled the building. After he left campus, he headed to a local Walmart at 2:50 p.m., stopped at a Subway restaurant for a drink and headed to McDonalds. He was picked up by police after being seen by a Broward County police officer. Police arrested Cruz on a nearby street, 80 minutes after the shooting began.
Seventeen people were killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The victims included 14 students: Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 15. Three teachers and/or staff members also died: Scott Beigel, a 35-year-old geography teacher; Aaron Feis, a 37-year-old assistant football coach; and Chris Hixon, a 49-year-old athletic director.
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School began “Never Again MSD,” an anti-gun-violence organization and political action committee, shortly after the shooting. The group, along with supporters, organized a March for Our Lives demonstration to advocate for gun violence prevention.
A few weeks after the shooting, Florida’s then-Governor Rick Scott, a supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA), signed a bill requiring an age requirement of twenty-one years for gun purchases. The bill also required a three-day waiting period on all gun transactions. The law also allowed certain school employees to be armed. That component of the law was controversial for many people. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission was established within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement during the 2018 legislative session. The purpose of the commission was to offer a comprehensive approach to investigating and handling concerns brought to light following the shooting. Information from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was analyzed, as were details from other school shootings.
Cruz pleaded guilty to all charges. He told a psychologist that he chose February 14 because no one loved him, and he wanted to ruin the holiday for everyone. Cruz’s attorneys argued that Cruz was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, causing him to suffer a variety of brain dysfunctions. They also said Cruz believed he was raped and molested by a neighbor when he was 9 years old. A witness for the prosecution said they believed Cruz intentionally performed poorly on neuropsychological exams to garner results that would suggest brain dysfunction. While he did not believe Cruz suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, he did argue that Cruz was a sociopath.
Cruz’s biological mother, Brenda Woodard, gave her son up for adoption after he was born. Cruz and his brother, Zachary, were adopted by Lynda and Roger Cruz. Roger Cruz died when Nikolas Cruz was a boy; Lynda Cruz died a few months before the school shooting.
The prosecution sought the death penalty for Cruz, and a jury agreed that he was eligible for it. However, the jury, comprised of seven men and five women, was deadlocked on whether the death penalty should be imposed. Eleven jurors supported execution, but one would not. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who took office in 2019, criticized the jury’s decision, and said Cruz should have been sentenced to death.
A number of the shooting survivors have experienced illness and trauma including survivor’s guilt and anxiety. At least two shooting survivors have committed suicide since the event occurred. Other students have thrown themselves into advocacy, lobbying lawmakers to make changes to gun control laws in the United States.
Bibliography
Alanez, Tonya, Paula McMahon, and Anne Geggis. “‘That Crazy Boy.’ School Watchman Recognized but Didn’t Stop Shooter before Parkland Massacre,” South Florida Sun Sentinel, 1 June 2018, www.sun-sentinel.com/news/crime/fl-florida-school-shooting-campus-monitor-20180619-htmlstory.html. Accessed 17 Dec. 2022.
History.com Editors. “February 14: Teen Gunman Kills 17, Injures 17 at Parkland, Florida High School,” History.com, 25 May 2022, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/parkland-marjory-stoneman-douglas-school-shooting. Accessed 17 Dec. 2022.
Levenson, Eric. & Joe Sterling. “These are the Victims of the Florida Shooting,” CNN, 13 Oct. 2022, www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-shooting-victims-school/index.html. Accessed on 17 Dec. 2022.
Spencer, Terry. “School Shooter Chose Valentine’s Day to Ruin it Forever,” Associated Press, 6 Oct. 2022, apnews.com/article/shootings-education-florida-fort-lauderdale-parkland-school-shooting-045455fc875b7a91800468995c18dcf5. Accessed on 17 Dec. 2022.
Sullivan, Becky & Greg Allen. “At an Emotional Hearing, the Parkland Shooter is Formally Sentenced to Life in Prison,” NPR, 2 Nov. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/11/02/1133562604/parkland-shooter-life-sentence. Accessed on 17 Dec. 2022.