Nikolas Cruz Pleads Guilty to Murder Charges in Parkland High School Massacre

(CNN) – Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who carried out the massacre of students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018, pleaded guilty in a Florida court Wednesday to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. .

The statement comes more than three and a half years after the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which it killed 17 students and faculty members and injured 17 others in what is the deadliest shooting in a high school in American history.

The declaration begins to conclude a legal chapter of a massacre that marked a community and sparked a massive national protest movement against gun violence in American schools.

The guilty plea change was anticipated on Friday when Cruz, now 23, briefly appeared in Broward County court to plead guilty to charges related to a November 2018 jail fight. At the hearing, the Defense attorney David Wheeler said in court that Cruz intends to plead guilty to the school shooting, which could avoid part of a lengthy trial.

Cruz’s defense team had long ago offered a guilty plea in exchange for life in prison without the possibility of parole, but only if prosecutors removed the death penalty from the table. Prosecutors had rejected it, saying they were seeking the death penalty.

Death penalty trials are divided into two distinct sections: the guilty phase and the sentencing phase. The guilty plea would resolve the first phase but not the second, and Cruz could still be sentenced to death.

This Thursday, the Broward State Attorney’s Office issued a statement saying that “there have been no plea negotiations with the District Attorney” and “if he pleads guilty, there would still be a sentencing phase.”

Details about what prompted Wheeler to announce Friday that Cruz intended to plead guilty are not yet known. Cruz had previously pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of first degree premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted first degree murder, although he had confessed to police, according to an affidavit.

The impact of the February 2018 shooting was felt far beyond South Florida, as survivors and families of victims spoke quickly and clashed with lawmakers to advocate for gun control reform. Other students in the United States joined the cause, organizing their own protests and school walkouts in the months after the massacre.