Mass Shootings

The jurors in the Parkland school shooting will be voting 17 times — once for each victim. They will decide whether Nikolas Cruz is sentenced to death or life without parole, but for them to recommend a death sentence, they must unanimously agree.

The lead prosecutor of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz made his final push Tuesday to persuade jurors to sentence him to death, telling them during his closing argument that the Valentine's Day 2018 attack that killed 17 people was cold, calculated, meticulously planned and deserving of execution.

Multiple hoax calls reported active shooters at schools across South Florida Tuesday morning. By the early afternoon, the "swatting" calls reached a number of schools in the Tampa Bay area as well.

It's possible Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz talked himself into a death sentence.

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz told a prosecution psychiatrist he began contemplating a mass murder during middle school, doing extensive research on earlier killers to learn their methods and mistakes to shape his own plans, video played at his penalty trial showed Monday.

The judge overseeing the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz refused to step down Monday, rejecting a motion by his attorneys who accused her of being biased against their client and prejudicing the jurors who will decide if he should die for murdering 17 people four years ago.

Attorneys for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz have filed a motion demanding for the judge in his murder case to be disqualified, claiming he will not get a fair trial. The move comes after Judge Elizabeth Scherer berated the defense in court for abruptly resting their case despite only calling 25 of their 80 witnesses — calling it "the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case."

Attorneys for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz abruptly rested their case, triggering a shouting match with the judge after she called the move "the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case."

On one page, Nikolas Cruz scrawled the very issue at stake in his trial, where the jury will decide whether he will get the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison. He wrote: "I do not want life please help me go to death row!"

The lead attorney for confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz told the jury in her opening statements on Monday that they have witnessed “things that will haunt them for the rest of their lives,” but they now need to learn what led him to massacre 17 people on Valentine's Day four years ago before they can decide whether to sentence him to death or life without parole.

A defense mental health expert in the penalty trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz said he could pinpoint when he realized the 23-year-old mass murderer still has “irrational thoughts” — the two were making small talk when Cruz began describing plans for an eventual life outside prison.