Florida shooter indicted on multiple counts of murder, attempted murder
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nikolas Cruz now formally faces 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted firstdegree murder in the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors announced Wednesday afternoon.
After nearly two days of testimony, ranging from the Uber driver who drove Cruz to the school Feb. 14 and the medical examiner who did autopsies of the bodies of the 17 who died, a Broward County grand jury on Wednesday afternoon voted to indict the 19-year-old.
Among Wednesday’s witnesses were the Parkland family who gave a home to Cruz after his mother died in November.
Cruz confessed to arming himself with an AR-15 rifle and going on a shooting rampage at the Parkland school. He was arrested within 90 minutes of entering the school.
Cruz has been locked up at the Broward Main Jail, where he will remain, since the day of his arrest. He could face the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet announced their intentions.
Until Wednesday’s indictment Jim Lewis, attorney for James and Kimberly Snead, talks to reporters after the couple testified to the Broward County grand jury on Wednesday.
was announced, authorities had said Cruz killed 17 and injured 16. But the indictment charges that he tried to kill a 17th person.
Experts say that an attempted first-degree murder charge can be filed even if a person suffered no injury. Defendants have been convicted of attempted first-degree murder in cases where they shot into a car but did not hit anyone.
Cruz is charged with murdering: Luke Hoyer; Martin Duque-anquiano; Gina Mantalto; Alexander Schachter; Alaina Petty; Alyssa Alhadeff; Nicholas Dworet; Helena Ramsay; Christopher Hixon; Carmen Schentrup; Aaron Feis; Scott Biegel; Meadow Pollack; Cara
Loughran; Joaquin Oliver-padauy; Jaime Guttenberg and Peter Wang.
He is charged with attempting to murder: Ashley Baez; William Olson; Kheshava Managapuram; Justin Colton; Alexander Dworet; Genesis Valentin; Daniela Menescal; Samantha Grady; Samantha Fuentes; Isabel Chequer; Samantha Mayor; Benjamin Wikander; Madeleine Wilford; Marian Kabachenko; Stacey Lippel; Anthony Borges and Kyle Laman.
Cruz’s defense team declined to comment.
Grand jury proceedings are held behind closed doors and state authorities took the unprecedented step of escorting witnesses through a secure rear entrance.
James and Kimberly Snead, who let their son’s friend, Cruz, live with them for about three months before the shooting, testified to the Broward County grand jury on Wednesday. Their attorney, Jim Lewis, went into the grand jury room with them.
Lewis and James Snead both wore silver pins bearing the number “17” to commemorate the number of victims.
The Sneads did not comment, but Lewis told waiting reporters that they told the jurors “every single detail they can remember” about Cruz.
“The grand jurors asked some very insightful questions, and they answered them to the best of their ability,” Lewis said.
“They (the Sneads) still don’t know why this happened ... (they) didn’t see this coming,” Lewis said.
Next step in the legal process for Cruz is an arraignment, which is when he must indicate if he plans to fight the charges.
The clerk of courts sets the arraignment date, usually within a few weeks. Prosecutors will then have 45 days from arraignment to announce whether they intend to seek the death penalty or not.