Grand jury indicts Florida school shooter on 17 counts of murder
A Broward County grand jury indicted Nikolas Cruz on 17 counts of premeditated first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder related to the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
The indictment comes exactly three weeks after three adults and 14 students died in the third largest school shooting in U.S. history.
Cruz, 19, could receive the death penalty if convicted on all charges. Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein has said Cruz will plead guilty if the death penalty is removed as an option. Cruz’s arrest report claims that after getting his right-to-remain-silent warning, he admitted to walking onto school grounds with an AR-15 assault rifle and shooting students he saw in the hallways.
David J. Neal: 305-376-3559, @DavidJNeal
This story was originally published March 7, 2018 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Grand jury indicts Florida school shooter on 17 counts of murder."