Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial live updates Day 6: Medical examiners detail several Parkland deaths

FORT LAUDERDALE — Follow along for live coverage of the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty last year to killing 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Feb. 14, 2018.

A 12-person jury will recommend whether Cruz, then 19 and now 23, is put to death or sentenced to life in prison without parole. If it recommends death, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will make the final ruling, likely sometime this fall.

Cruz lived briefly with a family friend near Lantana in the weeks before the Parkland shootings.

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Doctor: Student hurt, but alive, when Cruz fired 4 fatal shots to his head

Peter Wang, a 15-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was already wounded with gunshots to his legs when Nikolas Cruz walked up to him and fired four fatal shots into the boy's head, former Broward County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Wendolyn Sneed told the jury Monday.

Wang, who stood 5 foot 1 inch and weighed 128 pounds when he died, was reportedly holding a door open for other students to escape when he was initially struck by bullets. Sneed, Palm Beach County chief medical examiner since 2019, said Wang sustained a "gaping" wound to the left side of his head.

Cruz, who did not look up while Sneed testified, fired these final shots at Wang from close range. Sneed said Wang sustained a "gaping" wound to the left side of his head.

Sneed also did the autopsy on Athletic Director Christopher Hixon, who sustained two gunshots to the chest.

Dr. Stephen Robinson, Broward County's deputy chief medical examiner, testified that he performed the autopsy on Nicholas Dworet, a 17-year-old senior at Stoneman Douglas.

Robinson said Dworet received several non-life-threatening wounds from the gunfire, but was fatally struck by a bullet that entered his right shoulder and worked its way through his body before tearing through his heart and into his left lung.

Mitchell and Anika Dworet, Nicholas's parents, remained in the courtroom during testimony and were comforted by the families of other victims.

Jury sees AR-15 used by Cruz for first time

Gloria Crespo, a Broward Sheriff's Office crime-scene detective in 2018, was assigned to document the high school's third floor and stairwells following the massacre.

During her testimony, jurors saw the AR-15 rifle that Cruz used for the first time.

Defense attorney David Wheeler asked that the rifle, which was resting on the courtroom floor behind prosecutor Michael Satz, be placed in the evidence box for safety reasons.

Satz grabbed the weapon and placed it under a desk where prosecutors are stationed. The muzzle was placed at an angle facing where Satz sits.

"I'll point it in a safe direction — toward me," Satz said.

The exchange, and presence of the gun, appeared to make some of the victims' parents uncomfortable.

Uber driver: Cruz said he was heading to music class

Laura Zecchini, the Uber driver who drove Nikolas Cruz to the high school on the day of the shootings, said the gunman told her he was going to "music class."

Zecchini said Cruz was carrying a guitar case. The case actually contained the AR-15 Cruz used to killed 17 people and injure 17 others.

The 5-mile drive from 7200 Loxahatchee Road in Parkland to the high school took 13 minutes. On the way there, Zecchini said Cruz asked her is she "was from the neighborhood." Zecchini told him she wasn't.

Zecchini said Cruz spent most of the ride looking at his phone. Responding to a question from public defender Tamara Curtis, the driver said Cruz looked nervous and anxious.

Broward Sheriff's Office Detective Miguel Suarez testified just before Zecchini and described finding spent shell casings and damage from gunfire on the second floor of the freshman building. No one was killed on the second floor.

The defense team, which had been mostly silent during last week's testimony, asked brief questions of Suarez as well as Zecchini.

Curtis attempted to establish that Cruz requested the Uber "pool option," which meant he could have shared the ride to the high school. No one else was picked up, Zecchini said.

Witness recalls running wounded from Room 1216

Testimony in Week 2 of Nikolas Cruz's penalty phase trial began Monday morning much the same way as last week's testimony, with lead prosecutor Michael Satz calling a former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to the witness stand.

Justin Colton, who was a freshman at the high school in February 2018, was shot in the right arm and lower back as he ran to get away from gunshots fired by Cruz into Room 1216 on the building's third floor.

Cruz never walked inside classroom 1216. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, Cruz shot at the students at 2:22:39 p.m. and returned to shoot again a few seconds later.

He shot eight students, including Colton, who says he still has limitations as the result of his injuries.

"I can't do some motions like working out because of my back," Colton testified.

Jorge Milian is a journalist covering Boynton Beach and Lake Worth Beach at The Palm Beach Post. He also has covered the Parkland shootings since the day they happened. You can reach him at jmilian@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at Caneswatch. Help support our work. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Live updates: Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz sentencing trial, Day 6