Families of the victims of the Parkland school shooting were visibly distraught and upset after the jury recommended that Nikolas Cruz should receive a life sentence instead of the death penalty.
During the reading of the verdict, families were clutching each other with tears in their eyes and shaking their heads as each count was read for every one of the 17 victims who were murdered in 2018 for over an hour.
Lori Alhadeff and her husband Ilan, the parents of victim Alyssa Alhadeff, gave powerful statements during a press conference shortly after the verdict was read.
JURY RECOMMENDS LIFE SENTENCE, NOT DEATH PENALTY, FOR PARKLAND SCHOOL SHOOTER
Both said that they were disgusted with the jurors and the legal system as a whole.
“That you can allow 17 dead, and 17 others shot and wounded, and not give the death penalty? What do we have the death penalty for? What is the purpose? You set a precedent today. You set a precedent for the next mass killing,” Ilan Alhadeff said.
He said if he could ask the jurors anything, he would ask, “What were you thinking?”
“It’s not about your personal beliefs. This isn’t about your religious values,” he said. “It’s about the heinous crime that was committed. There is no recovery. Jail is about rehab — there is no rehabing.”
Tony Montalto, the father of victim Gina Montalto, said this verdict sends the wrong message to the nation.
“I see my beautiful daughter’s face around our home, in my dreams,” he said. “And I miss her very much.”
While the system failed to punish the shooter with death, he said, it will not stop the mission of Stand With Parkland to prevent further school shooting tragedies from “shattering other American families.”
“Society has to really look and reexamine who and what is a victim,” Montalto said. “My beautiful Gina, the other sons, daughters, spouses, and fathers — they were the victims here.”
Many parents stated that they would never stop fighting to prevent shootings at schools, places of worship, and other public places so no other families would have to go through this again.
Fred Guttenberg, a vocal gun control activist and the father of victim Jaime Guttenberg, said the jury failed the families of the 17 victims.
He praised the prosecution’s efforts in the case, echoing many parents who believed that the state did everything they could to present the facts of the case.
Moving forward, he said he would be doing everything he could to prevent school shootings and reduce gun violence.
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“I’m going to continue doing what I do, and I’m going to go to the cemetery,” Guttenberg said. “And I’m going to tell my daughter what happened today, and I’m going to tell her that I love her and I always will.”
