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Florida school shooting:
Victims identified by authorities, remembered by loved ones
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-school-shooting-victims-identified-by-authorities/] |
“I care more about how the families feel than I care about this guy being trapped or not being trapped. And if the families are telling me that the way they’re going to get closure is by him being put to the death penalty, then so be it. Because the priority, for me, is the families that had those lives stolen from them.”
– Ana Navarro said, referring to the alternative of him spending life in prison.
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The past counts. The Earth does not belong only to the living. Bloodshed
cries out to be avenged. Emotively, and not merely rationally, the blood of the
dead victim compels us to act. Today, too, the victim’s lingering cry moves us
retributivist advocates of the death penalty.
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[The Death Penalty
Delineated By the Old Testament by Robert Blecker, USA Today on November 2004] [PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/kkggzffcgfdb/1243/the-past-counts-the-earth-does-not-belong-only-to-the |
Let us hear from the victims’ family members as they want him to get the ultimate punishment:
“There
is one other consideration which I believe should never be overlooked. If the
criminal law of this country is to be respected, it must be in accordance with
public opinion, and public opinion must support it. That goes very nearly to
the root of this question of capital punishment. I cannot believe or the public
opinion (or would I rather call it the public conscience) of this country will
tolerate that persons who deliberately condemn others to painful and, it may
be, lingering deaths should be allow to live…”
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Families of Parkland school shooting
victims react to Nikolas Cruz's upcoming guilty plea
By: Peter
Burke
Posted at
2:48 PM, Oct 20, 2021 and last updated 2021-10-20 17:45:54-04
FORT
LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Some parents and family members of the Parkland school shooting
victims said Wednesday they were unmoved by Nikolas Cruz's apology in court and
remain in favor of him being sentenced to death.
Cruz pleaded guilty Wednesday to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the Valentine's Day 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
By pleading guilty, Cruz now must wait for a jury to decide whether he will be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is fingerprinted after his guilty plea Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Relatives
of the victims who sat in the courtroom and watched the hearing via Zoom broke
down in tears and held hands across families.
As Cruz apologized to the families of his victims, several parents shook their heads in disgust.
Cruz explained that he thought it should be up to the families to determine whether he lives or dies.
But it seems several have already made up their minds, and his statement did little, if nothing, to change their positions.
"Today we saw a cold and calculating killer confess to the murder of my daughter, Gina, and 16 other innocent victims at their school," Tony Montalto said.
Tony Montalto wears a button bearing an image of his daughter, Gina Montalto, 14, who was killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, during a court recess Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
His
daughter was 14 and sitting outside her classroom when Cruz shot her at close range
numerous times.
"His guilty pleas are the first step in the judicial process, but there is no change for my family," Montalto said. "Our bright, beautiful and beloved daughter Gina is gone, while her killer still enjoys the blessing of life in prison."
Parents scoffed at Cruz's statement as they left the courtroom, saying it seemed self-serving and aimed at eliciting unearned sympathy.
Gena Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son, Luke, died in the shooting, saw it as part of a defense strategy "to keep a violent, evil person off death row."
Gena Hoyer shows the pendant given to her by co-workers bearing an image of her son, Luke Hoyer, 15, who was killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, as well as the cross Luke used to wear around his neck, during a court recess Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
She said her son was "a sweet young man who had a life ahead of him and the person you saw in there today chose to take his life. He does not deserve life in prison."
Debbi Hixon, whose husband, Christopher Hixon, was among the 14 students and three faculty members killed in the massacre said the families weren't expecting to hear "part of what was said today, and I think it reiterates the fact of why we need to seek the death penalty."
Gena Hoyer, right, hugs Debbi Hixon during a court recess Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz's guilty plea on all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 mass shooting. Hoyer's son, Luke Hoyer, 15, and Hixon's husband, Christopher Hixon, 49, were both killed in the massacre.
Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was killed in the shooting, spoke to reporters via Zoom after the hearing.
"At the end of the day, someone declared himself guilty for something that I always knew -- we all know -- that he was already guilty," Oliver said.
Oliver said his pain and anger are "bigger" than ever after hearing Broward County State Attorney Mike Satz recount in court how each of the victims died, including learning that Cruz shot his son, reloaded and then shot him again.
"It tells me that he was not dead," Oliver said. "So there's a lot of suffering. There's a lot of pain, I guess, and I've always wondered if Joaquin was thinking about us, his family."
Despite Cruz's apology, Montalto, who wore a picture of his daughter close to his heart, felt no sympathy for her murderer.
"There's no moving on," he said. "There's moving around the pain that we feel every day. The loss of my daughter affects my wife, myself, and our son and our entire family."
Lori Alhadeff wears her daughter's name on her wrist and her arm, in the form of a wristband and tattoo.
"So I think about Alyssa every day," she said.
You
killed a person and you are put in prison for life? The one you killed is not
in jail but he is dead." - Yoweri Museveni
Parents, family members of Parkland victims want Nikolas Cruz to die
Alhadeff, who watched the hearing from home, said she imagines that her daughter would be playing soccer -- the sport that she loved -- in college right now.
"She was a beautiful, vivacious, amazing girl," Alhadeff said.
Instead, the 14-year-old was killed by Cruz. So Alhadeff turned her grief into action, running for and winning election to the Broward County School Board.
"Seventeen people died," Alhadeff said. "Seventeen people were shot, and so it's ultimately that his life needs to be taken."
Anthony Borges, a former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who was shot five times and severely wounded, told reporters after the hearing that he accepted Cruz's apology, but noted that it was not up to him to decide the confessed murderer's fate.
Royer Borges and his son, Anthony Borges, are shown in court Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz's guilty plea on all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. Anthony Borges was critically injured in the 2018 massacre.
"He (made) a decision to shoot the school," Borges said. "That's for everybody. He (made) his decision to do it. Now he's facing it. That's not my right. Like, I'm not God to (make) the decision to kill him or not. That's not my decision. My decision is to be a better person and to change the world (for) every kid. Like, I don't want (this) to happen to (anybody) again. Like, it hurts. It hurts. It really hurts."
But Hoyer was more decisive, saying her son's killer doesn't deserve life in prison.
"Life in prison is a life, and he deserves nothing more than the death penalty," she said.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2088194411331919&id=1299628893521812
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If an offender has
committed murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute
can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel between death and even
the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and retribution
unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death. – Immanuel Kant
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[PHOTO SOURCE: http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2015/02/immanuel-kants-pro-death-penalty-quote.html] |
Parkland Families Say They Want The Death Penalty
By Bobeth Yates
October 19, 2021 at 11:50 pm
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – After three years, the person, police say is responsible for mass shooting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will be in court to face the charges but for many of the victims and their families, the day couldn’t have come sooner.
“I believe there’s a place in hell for him and it’s waiting,” said School Board Member Debbie Hixon.
She is unapologetic when it comes to her option of
Nikolas Cruz. Cruz has been charged with the deaths of 14 students and three
staff members in the Parkland shooting. Hixon’s husband Chris was among them.
“This an individual who’s not able to be rehabilitated, I don’t think he’s remorseful at all and I don’t think he should suck up one more resource of our community, he’s taken enough from us, added Hixon.
ON Wednesday, Cruz is expected to plead guilty to the 17 murders and to the shootings of the 17 who were wounded and survived.
Hixon isn’t the only one who wants him to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
“My wife and I had two children and we don’t any more we have one. That killer took this from us and I want that killer to pay for it with his life,” said Fred Guttenberg.
His daughter Jaime was among those who lost their lives in the Parkland mass shooting.
“My daughter wanted to get married by the age of 25 and I dreamt every day of walking my daughter down the aisle and because of what this murder did I now live every day knowing I won’t get to do that. My daughter was amazing and the world lost someone who was going to make a huge difference in it as she grow up,” added Guttenberg.
As the victims’ families prepare for court, some like Hixon say they’re starting to feel a sense of closure.
“I’m definitely struggling but appreciative of the fact that we are expediting something that should have happened in 2018,” added Hixon.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2090492067768820&id=1299628893521812
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/10/19/parkland-families-say-they-want-death-penalty/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/permalink/4398489863599932
Wife of victim speaks out ahead of Parkland
shooter’s penalty phase
On Wednesday, we will learn whether the state will
accept Nikolas Cruz’s guilty plea for a school shooting in Parkland. Cruz’s
lawyers said last week that he would be pleading guilty to 17 counts of
premeditated murder in the first degree and 17 counts of first degree attempted
murder.
His lawyers’ goals are to get the death penalty off the table for Cruz.
One of the victims of the 2018 mass shooting was Chris Hixon. Hixon died trying to stop Cruz from killing more people. WINK News spoke to Hixon’s wife about what the next phase of this case means to her.
17 people died on February 14, 2018, during a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. 17 more people were injured and survived.
Debbi Hixon’s husband was one of the people who died. She won’t say the shooter’s name and doesn’t want to see his face but she wants him to face death as well.
Debbi is Chris Hixon’s wife and is a member of the Broward County School Board. “This is an evil human being that just needs to go to hell,” Hixon said.
Her husband died while he was trying to disarm the shooter. Now, more than three and a half years later, the gunman has yet to stand trial.
If the death penalty was
not imposed then "wrong really has finally totally triumphed over right
and all civilised society, all we hold dear, is the loser." - John
Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://quozio.com/quote/hwwv7bcchftj/1092/if-the-death-penalty-was-not-imposed-then-wrong-really-has] |
Debbi says it’s still hard for her to move forward. “There’s steps in grief and anger is the first one. And I don’t think many of us have been able to move too far past that. Because there’s been no justice,” she said.
Since his arrest, Cruz, the confessed killer, has wanted to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison. The prosecution has said no every single time. So now, he plans to plead guilty once again.
This will set up a penalty phase where a jury will hear testimony and make a recommendation of life in prison or offering the death penalty.
Kyle Jeter was teaching at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when those shots rang out. “I kind of look at things like what do the families want and I read that families are in favor of the death penalty so that works for me,” Jeter said.
“Our community has lost enough from this person. And I just don’t think that we should be continuing to provide any other resources for this evil human being,” said Hixon.
Hixon says she will be present in the courtroom when the judge decides the fate of her husband’s killer.
On Friday, Cruz entered a guilty plea related to an assault on a prison guard in 2018.
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2090491217768905&id=1299628893521812
"In
criminal law legislation, our priority is the security and well being of
law-abiding citizens rather than the rights of the criminal to be protected
from incriminating evidence." – Lee Kuan Yew
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[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208686221008588&set=a.1206445396945.2031621.1102965071&type=3&theater] |
Twelve victims died inside the building, three died
just outside the building on school premises, and two died in the hospital.
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The fourteen students and three staff members
killed were:
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/10/19/parkland-families-say-they-want-death-penalty/] |
RELATED LINKS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting
Parents of Parkland Victim Say They Want Nikolas Cruz Executed As He Plans Guilty Plea
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2088199614664732&id=1299628893521812
NIKOLAS CRUZ VICTIMS' FAMILIES NOT BUYING APOLOGY ... Give Him Death Penalty!!!
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2092053560946004&id=1299628893521812
Many parents, family of Nikolas Cruz's victims favor death penalty
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2092080987609928&id=1299628893521812
https://www.wptv.com/news/parkland-shooting/family-reaction-to-nikolas-cruz-guilty-plea
Archbishop: 'Why insist on the death penalty' for Nikolas Cruz?
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4955459831151795&id=1062143030483514
https://www.wflx.com/2021/10/21/archbishop-why-insist-death-penalty-nikolas-cruz/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/view-ana-navarro-supports-death-163333163.html
The Parkland shooter may face the death penalty, here's how that process could play out
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=204749975074333&id=101692122046786
'US would do better if everyone stopped smoking marijuana': 'Cold and calculated' Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz blames POT for 2018 massacre as he pleads guilty, apologizes to victims' families and now faces possible death sentence
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=205141961701801&id=101692122046786
https://www.facebook.com/DailyMailAust/posts/3413135098921536
POLL RESULTS: Does Parkland FL gunman Nikolas Cruz deserve the death penalty?
https://vk.com/wall-184585082_330
OTHER LINKS:
Charleston church shooter
Dylann Roof's death penalty is upheld by federal judges after lawyers tried to
argue he is mentally ill and believed 'other white nationalists would free him
from prison after a race war'
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=170012288548102&id=101692122046786
https://www.facebook.com/DailyMail/posts/7390540291005655
Unit 1012 USA Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3350621811720081/posts/4230356170413303/
“It’s bittersweet, right,” Graham said. “I sat through the trial for well over four months ... was there when the verdict came down from the jury of death. I thought it was appropriate then, and I think it's appropriate now. We live in a society of laws and the rule of law has to come into play. It says really loud and clear that racism, bigotry and discrimination that leads to death should be met with death.” - Charlotte City Council member responds to death penalty sentence being upheld for Dylann Roof
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2047303922087635&id=1299628893521812
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