Families of the students and staff killed by Nikolas Cruz during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are addressing him directly in emotional impact statements.
Meghan Petty, sister of 14-year-old victim Alaina Petty, shared the impact her death has had on her.
“This entire ordeal has pushed me to my emotional, physical and mental limits. It will continue to do so for the rest of my life, even more so now that he has escaped being punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Meghan Petty said.
She called his actions “disgusting and violent.”
Meghan Petty labeled Cruz “a remorseless monster who deserves no mercy.”
She later added, “This incredible darkness that he has within him — which has been labeled here as mental illness — is something that should be considered unacceptable and intolerable.”
Meghan Petty suggested “if one stretches the truth, they can get away with not only murder but mass murder.”
Noting Cruz is the same age as herself, Meghan Petty explained, “I can say for a fact that at the time he murdered Alaina he was old enough and mentally aware enough to understand the permanence of death.”
Her statement continued, “I could sit here and complain, as he has, that I’ve had a hard life. I was bullied in school. I’ve lost 15 family members and loved ones since I turned nine to sickness, suicide, accident and now murder. Not once have I turned to ever hurting others … because I’m not a coward and I’m not weak.”
Expressing her anger with Cruz, Meghan Petty said, “He gets daily meals, a roof over his head, and a bed to sleep in now. My sister’s body is food for carrion. Her roof is six feet of dirt and her bed is a coffin.”
Meghan Petty added, “I will never get to say goodbye to her… She’s never going to go to college, get a job, get married … or even breathe again. But he’ll be able to draw breath.”
Watch the video below:
BREAKING: Family members of the 17 students and staff killed in the Parkland high school massacre are addressing gunman Nikolas Cruz in victim impact statements before Cruz is formally sentenced to life in prison.
— ABC News (@ABC) November 1, 2022
WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/TljVXFKBkE
Max Schachter, the father of 14-year-old victim Alex, approached the podium after Meghan Petty.
He accused Cruz’s attorneys of “making the mental health crisis in America worse by misrepresenting what actually happened to the Parkland murderer.”
Schachter continued, “He had well over 200 individual sessions with mental health professionals. … They tried everything, they couldn’t have given him more services.”
Still, he acknowledged, “You can’t fix evil.”
According to CNN, Cruz will be officially sentenced after the trial ends. The jury recommended he serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Cruz was able to avoid the death penalty.
Fourteen students and three school staff members were killed during the shooting.
The shooter pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.