Tag Archives: Parkland

From the Justice Department: On Oct. 20, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola sentenced James Catalano, 62, of Fresno, California, to 12 months in prison for sending hundreds of harrowing messages to a local activist against gun violence whose daughter was murdered during the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. On March 28, 2023, …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: Former School Resource Officer Scot Peterson, the only person other than the gunman to face charges in the 2018 Parkland massacre when he was accused of failing to rush into the building to confront the mass shooter, has been found not guilty on all charges. After the first not guilty verdict was read, Peterson placed …

The Associated Press reports: Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman. Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched intently as Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced him to 17 life terms for …

The Associated Press reports: A jury reached its decision Thursday in the penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz, who gunned down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. The trial was to decide whether to sentence him to life in prison or the death penalty. During closing arguments Tuesday, defense counsel Melisa McNeill told the …

Fort Lauderdale’s CBS affiliate reports: The defense in school killer Nikolas Cruz’s sentencing trial is about to speak to the jury for the first time and present why they believe he committed the shooting rampage. The best result for the defense would be life in prison without parole for the confessed killer, and it needs only one juror to agree, …

The Independent reports: Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg was thrown out of a House Judiciary Committee meeting about gun control on Wednesday after he confronted lawmakers about “reiterating the points of mass shooters”. Mr Hogg, a prominent gun safety advocate, was sat in the gallery of the meeting when he rose to his feet passionately interrupted proceedings. “You’re reiterating the …

The Associated Press reports: The penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz began on Monday, the deadliest U.S. mass shooting to go before a jury. Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last October to 17 counts of first-degree murder at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in the deaths of 14 students and three staff members, and is only contesting his sentence. …

The Independent reports: Joe Biden was interrupted by Parkland father Manuel Oliver during a White House event celebrating the passage of a bipartisan gun safety bill. Mr Oliver, who lost his son Joaquin during the 2018 Florida shooting at Marjory Stone Douglas High School, stood up during the president’s speech on the White House lawn on Monday. “Despite the naysayers, …

Miami’s NBC News affiliate reports: Officials found some loaded firearms on a school campus and they said they belong to the principal. Two loaded guns were found on the campus of Somerset Academy, a charter school in Parkland, Thursday. They were found inside a bag that was left unattended inside the school located on 8401 N. University Drive. The guns …

The Independent reports: A possible juror in the Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial left Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer baffled after appealing to the needs of her “sugar daddy” to justify skipping out on the trial. On Monday, a juror who has come to be known as “Ms Bristol”, told the court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that she had too many commitments …

The Associated Press reports: Jury selection in the deadliest mass shooting ever to go to trial will begin Monday with preliminary screening for the panel that will determine whether Nikolas Cruz will be put to death for murdering 17 students and staff members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Court officials say 1,500 candidates or more could be brought …

The Huffington Post reports: Marcel Fontaine ― who had never even been to Florida ― was suddenly on Infowars as the face of a man who killed students and teachers. Threats soon poured in, with people calling Fontaine a “crisis actor” involved in a “false flag operation” for the “deep state,” familiar buzzwords often repeated by Infowars’ hosts. Later that …

The Washington Post reports: The federal government has reached a tentative $127.5 million settlement with the families of victims of a 2018 mass shooting at a Florida high school, who sued over the FBI’s failure to act on warnings that the gunman was planning an attack, a person familiar with the agreement said. The U.S. Justice Department filed a notice …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: His guilt was never really in question. Now it’s official. Nikolas Cruz, the man who terrorized Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School just minutes before school let out on Valentine’s Day 2018 slouched before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, flanked by his defense lawyers, and declared himself guilty, one by one, of 17 counts of murder …

Miami’s CBS News affiliate reports: It’s a day many in the Parkland community and across South Florida have been waiting for. On Wednesday, confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is expected to plead guilty to all charges stemming from the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — the deadliest high school shooting in US history. “We’re asking …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: The families of 52 people killed, injured or traumatized during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High have reached a $25 million settlement with the Broward School District, the lawyer for the families confirmed Monday. The largest payments will go to the 17 families whose children or spouses were killed, and they will each …

Miami’s ABC News affiliate reports: Rather than going to trial, 23-year-old Nikolas Cruz will plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and all 17 counts of attempted murder in the Valentine’s Day shooting that killed 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others. Cruz’s defense team said their client would plead guilty to life in prison without …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: The National Rifle Association on Wednesday went to a federal appeals court after a judge last month upheld a Florida law that prevents people under age 21 from buying guns. The NRA, which challenged the constitutionality of the law after it passed in 2018, filed a notice of appealing the ruling by Chief U.S. District …

Mediaite reports: James Madison Academy is not a real high school, yet without realizing it former NRA president David Keene accepted an invitation to address what he thought was going to be its graduating class of 2021. Instead, the 3,044 chairs in the audience were left completely unoccupied. And not because it was a dress rehearsal as Keene was told, …

CBS News reports: White House officials met last week with several gun violence prevention groups as they weigh how to move forward on an issue that has stymied Democrats for years. The White House says President Biden is “personally committed” to action on an issue he has tackled many times in the past. Less than a month into the new …