Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz was formally charged on Wednesday with 17 counts of first-degree murder, which could mean a death sentence if he is convicted.
The indictment returned by a grand jury in Fort Lauderdale also charges the 19-year-old with 17 counts of attempted murder for the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in which 17 people died and more than a dozen others were wounded.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting survivor Mei-Ling Ho-Shing, 17, is comforted by Rosalind Osgood, a Broward County School Board member after a gun safety round table discussion on March 5, 2018 in Sunrise, Florida. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
Cruz’s public defender has said he will plead guilty if prosecutors take the death penalty off the table, which would mean a life prison sentence. The Broward County state attorney has not announced a decision on the death penalty.
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James and Kimberly Snead, the couple who gave Cruz a home after his mother died late last year, testified before the grand jury on Wednesday. Both James Snead and the couple’s lawyer, Jim Lewis, wore silver “17” pins to honour the victims of the shooting.
The couple is “trying to do the right thing” and is mourning along with the rest of the Parkland community, Lewis said.
