‘They did not receive justice today’: Families stunned, angered, disgusted by jury decision to spare life of Parkland gunman

It has been 1,702 days since they last looked into the eyes of their child, their spouse, but the families of 17 students and staff killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 finally got their moment of reckoning.

They were shocked and furious at the outcome — and by the mercy shown to the gunman who took their loved ones’ lives.

“There are 17 victims, including my beautiful daughter Jaime, and they did not receive justice today,” said Fred Guttenberg, describing his emotions as “shame, anger, devastation.”

“I’m going to go to the cemetery, and I’m going to tell my daughter what happened today,” Guttenberg said. “And I’m going to tell her I love her and always will.”

A Fort Lauderdale jury on Thursday rejected the death penalty for Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz, the decision to spare his life coming swiftly, after seven hours of deliberation over two days at the Broward County Courthouse.

The verdict brought an end to weeks of horrific testimony the families endured in the punishment phase of the trial, but the emotional wounds left by the Valentine’s Day rampage remain open and raw and permanent.

The jury’s decision to avoid the death penalty stunned many parents who spoke at a news conference after the sentencing, saying the verdict has added to their suffering.

“Someone killed 17 people, attempted to kill another 17, and we let them get away with it,” said Helena Ramsay’s mother, Anne Ramsay. “All the 17 families are so angry, because we had to listen to how he just came back and finished off our loved ones.”

Judge Elizabeth Scherer will deliver a final sentence for the 24-year-old Cruz on Nov. 1.

The gunman’s fate was placed in the hands of the jury on Wednesday, and shortly after court was back in session at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, they alerted the judge that a decision had been reached. Families gathered in the courtroom believed a verdict in favor of the death penalty was obvious.

“This should have been the death penalty 100 percent,” said Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa, 14, died. “I sent my daughter to school and she was shot eight times. I am so beyond disappointed and frustrated with this outcome. I just don’t understand this.”

Said Alyssa’s father, Ilan Alhadeff: “I’m disgusted with our legal system. I’m disgusted with those jurors. ... As a country we need to stand up and say that’s not OK.”

Linda Beigel Schulman lost her son Scott Beigel, a teacher and coach at MSD who was killed while trying to lead students to safety during the shooting.

“If this was not the most perfect death penalty case, then why do we have the death penalty at all?” she said.

An outlier among the families is Robert Schentrup, 23, the brother of Carmen Schentrup. He opposes the death penalty, including for his sister’s killer.

He didn’t watch the trial until Thursday’s verdict was read. He said the life sentence will allow his family and others to begin healing now.

“I don’t feel great. There’s no outcome where I could feel great,” he said. “I’m relieved because had the death penalty been awarded, it would have been a decades-long process of appeals until the shooter was executed.”

He acknowledges the vast majority of family members, including his parents, Philip and April, don’t share his view. April Schentrup was a Broward principal at the time of the tragedy.

“It’s what I believe, and I’m willing to accept that,” Robert Schentrup said.

For a “devastated” Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex was killed in the massacre, the gunman’s purposeful inhumanity justifies the maximum sentence.

“You listen to all the evidence, and understanding what he did to murder, going up and down all those three floors of stairs and hunting down all of his victims, shooting them from down the hall and then going over and executing them at point-blank range. How could you not give him the death penalty?” he said.

Citing the shooter’s successful bid to avoid being put to death, Schachter wrote on Twitter: “Today he got everything he wanted. While our loved ones are in the cemetery.”

Ryan Petty, father of 14-year-old Alaina Petty, was stunned that any of the jurors was not sufficiently moved by “the viciousness of what was done at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.”

“They saw pictures and videos I haven’t seen. I don’t know how you can see that as a juror and walk away feeling good about that [verdict],” Petty said.

Tony Montalto, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Gina, was irate after the verdict.

“She should not have been extinguished by this monster,” he told reporters. “Gina deserved better than she got. She deserved better.”

Addressing those who do not support the death penalty, Montalto said: “Trade places with me. You’ll change your mind.”

Much of the punishment phase of the trial included defense testimony that illustrated mental and emotional challenges the gunman faced growing up, which may have influenced the jury’s decision to decline the death penalty.

Montalto, president of Stand With Parkland, which advocates for school safety and victims, said the defense succeeded in getting the jurors to misplace their sympathy.

“What happened today is the county, the jury, forgot what a victim is,” he said.

Debbi Hixon, wife of Stoneman Douglas athletic director and coach Chris Hixon, killed while confronting the gunman, agreed.

“I have a son with special needs. I have a son that checked a lot of those boxes that the shooter did as well,” she said. “My son’s not a murderer. My son is the sweetest person you could ever meet.”

Of the shooter, she said: “I hope that he understands the gift that he’s been given. I doubt that he will.”

Artist and activist Manuel Oliver vowed to continue the work of his anti-gun violence project, Change the Ref, which honors son Joaquin, who was 17 when he was killed at his high school.

“Time to get back to Joaquin and his amazing movement,” Oliver wrote on Twitter. “The world just saw how to get away with murder in a nation whose system is dangerously flawed. Let’s fix this awful narrative. Viva GUAC and the 16 other victims of the Parkland shooting!”