At the penalty trial of Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz on Tuesday, jurors watched a gruesome video in connection with the 2018 Parkland school shooting.
The footage showed him walking through the hallways of Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killing 17 people, reported Fox News. According to prosecutors, Cruz could be seen in the footage shooting many of his victims at point-blank range. The footage was compiled from 13 surveillance cameras, and it was silent. It was not played for courtroom spectators.
In the footage, he was seen returning to two classrooms. Then he was seen spraying a second round of bullets at some of the victims who were lying injured on the ground. As the 12 jurors watched the shooting on their screens, many of them along with 10 alternates held their hands to their faces. Some panelists looked uncomfortable as they twisted in their seats while the 15-minute recording was played. Cruz had his head bowed, and he refused to look at the screen.
The footage was introduced into evidence over the objection of Cruz’s lawyers. They argued that the video was too prejudicial, and the witness statements were enough. Florida Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer disagreed, and said that the footage accurately portrayed the crime.
For the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting that killed 14 students, a coach, a teacher and an athletic director, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder in October.
On Monday, lead prosecutor Michael Satz detailed a moment-by-moment account of the deadly shooting. He named each person who was shot by Cruz and wounded, reported BBC. Satz said that he would show the court that the murders had been "cold, calculated and premeditated." The lawyer recounted how the shooter, who was 19 years old at the time, had vowed to become the "next school shooter" in a video that was filmed just days before the incident.
As the "penalty phase" of Cruz's trial is on, jurors are set to determine whether he should be sentenced to life in prison or receive the death penalty, according to Sky News.
The victims' families were at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, for the hearing, and some of them shook their heads or wept.
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