The second day of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz’s penalty trial concluded at around 3:30 p.m. ET after the day’s proceedings began just after 9 a.m. ET.

Judge Elizabeth Scherer said the court will resume Wednesday at 9 a.m.

Cruz, 23, has pleaded guilty to 17 murder counts and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder for opening fire at the high school three years ago.

In October, Scherer shifted the trial to a penalty phase and has assigned a 12-member jury to determine whether he gets death or life in prison without parole.

Multiple witnesses have testified their initial belief that Cruz’s attack was a drill, including a teacher who believed the real gunshots were “blanks” upon hearing the first shots.

“I had colleagues who told me from other school sites that sometimes they fire blanks, ‘they’ being whoever conducts these drills. So that was my thought,” said math teacher Michael Powell, who was in charge of a study hall at the time of the massacre.

Powell recalls helping five to six additional students into his classroom after he noticed they were hiding in a nearby bathroom entryway.

Approximately 30 students were in his class at the time. He was guided by previous training routines to turn off the lights and ensure students were away from doors.

Former high school student Samantha Fuentes said Tuesday she still has “shrapnel just behind my right eye” and in multiple parts of her body after surviving the 2018 shooting.

Fuentes said she remembers being hit and temporarily losing her vision and hearing when Cruz attacked her history class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, adding that she could still see Cruz standing at the door’s window when the shooting stopped.

Additionally, she remembers seeing two students who were killed, Nick Dworet and Helena Ramsay, who were laying on the ground beside her.

Her wounds included a bullet that hit above her knee in addition to the shrapnel behind her eye and various parts of her body.

“I have shrapnel still lodged in all of these parts of my body,” Fuentes said, adding that she still experiences lingering pain from the wounds.

“I get chronic spasms and pain in my legs. You know, whether it’s the weather change or pressure I can really feel that in my extremities,” Fuentes said.

More students and an employee who has worked at Marjory Stoneman Douglas since 2016 as an English teacher testified about the death of Alex Schachter during the school massacre.

English teacher Dara Hass recalled students working on an assignment when an initial “pop, pop, pop” of gunshot sounds were heard, adding that she first thought it was a drill.

Hass said she began shaking and had little time until she turned to see her students shot, including Schachter, who died at his desk before he could stand up to hide.

“The sounds were so loud and [there] were just a lot of them,” she said.

Kheshava Mangapuram, another surviving student who was hit in the side of the stomach, testified that he saw Schachter hit with multiple shots from the doorway to the classroom.

Mangapuram also spoke of a second round of shots he initially believed to be aimed at a neighboring classroom, though he later realized Cruz had attacked his class for a second time.

A pair of surviving students who were wounded during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting took the stand before the court headed for a two-hour lunch break.

William Olson was the first witness of the pair, recounting his experience being shot by Cruz during the attack while seeing his friend, Alex Schachter, not moving. Olson’s parents were sitting in court Tuesday and appeared visibly disturbed during their son’s retelling of the violent incident.

Alexander Dworet was the next witness and remembered his experience in English class on the day of the shooting, saying he heard loud noises coming from the hall and felt something hot on the back of his head.

He recalled seeing his friend, Alex Schachter, getting shot. Schachter was 14 when he died.

Dworet survived the attack and when police arrived, he was taken by ambulance to be treated for injuries.

Judge Scherer ordered an early and longer lunch due to traffic congestion outside the court on Monday, adding that the trial would resume at 1 p.m. ET.

Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school student Christopher McKenna, who encountered Cruz in the stairwell of the 1200 building before he began shooting, testified as the third witness on Tuesday.

Upon the encounter, McKenna said Cruz informed him to leave the building as he was preparing to begin firing his gun at students and staff.

McKenna ran from the building and encountered Coach Aaron Feis, where he got into his golf cart. The pair could hear gunshots, and the coach said he would go see what was happening.

The student eventually ran through a neighboring school, past a nearby Walmart and over to friend’s house where he called his father, who was law enforcement personnel at the time.

McKenna also used a smart screen in the court to trace an aerial view of his movement around the school grounds that day. When asked by prosecutors to identify the student he encountered in the stairwell, McKenna pointed to Cruz.

Judge Scherer called for a 15-minute recess.

Disturbing security footage evidence was shown to the jury in the form of a silent montage as Cruz navigated through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.

Unlike the graphic footage from Monday’s trial, this footage featured no sound but still depicted horrific clips of Cruz murdering and injuring dozens of students and teachers at the school.

Only the 12-member jury was allowed to watch the footage after a large white board was brought in to ensure nobody else could film the evidence shown on Tuesday.

Angenette Levy, a court watcher for Law & Crime, tweeted that the silent footage left some jury members with their hands over their mouths as they watched the violent footage intently.

Additionally, Cruz could be seen with his head down and occasionally talking with his lawyers while the jury watched the footage.

The penalty trial for Nikolas Cruz resumes Tuesday with his defense team requesting to omit some graphic videos of the shooting, arguing it violated his constitutional rights.

Judge Scherer disagreed and denied the motion following a lengthy sidebar by the defense team.

A sidebar serves as a way for the judge and lawyers to communicate directly without having to approach the bench and is typically distorted by white noise to keep court attendees from eavesdropping.

At this trial, sidebars are conducted with headphones and earpieces between the judge and the attorneys.

Prosecutors played graphic cellphone camera footage taken from the deadly 2018 massacre on Monday, depicting loud booms from gunshots and the screams of several students and school staff.

Judge Scherer adjourned the trial for Cruz Monday afternoon after prosecutors called up current and former FBI investigators to explain how footage from the school’s surveillance system was handled.

Prosecutors called up Carlos Castello to the stand, a retired FBI special agent who handled custody of surveillance videos from the high school following the mass shooting.

FBI digital and forensic examiner Gaston Nieves subsequently came to the stand to outline how the surveillance system within the school was handled.

A total of seven witnesses were called to testify by prosecutors on Monday before jurors were sent home for the evening.

The jury will report back to the court tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer denied a request by the defense for a mistrial Monday after lawyers said the judge wrongly allowed prosecutors to show graphic footage from the shooting.

Cruz’s defense asked for a mistrial by declaring the video evidence as “cumulative,” saying the evidence was already discussed and showing it would be prejudicial and could inflame the jury.

“Somebody shouting one thing when you don’t see them or you can’t hear exactly what they’re saying, is not even close to grounds for a mistrial,” Scherer said.

Lawyers for Cruz also suggested the audio was played at full volume, which prompted outbursts from one of the victims’ family members in the courtroom.

It’s not uncommon for defense attorneys to ask judges for mistrials as a means to fortify their position to overturn an unfavorable verdict on appeal after the trial.