1 of 5 | Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is seen in Parkland, Fla., on February 18, 2018, just four days after Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people in a shooting rampage there. Jurors will tour part of the school on Thursday. File Photo by Gary Rothstein/UPI |
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The site of the attack is the freshman building of the high school, which has not been used since and has remained preserved until the legal cases in the assault have been resolved.
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Nikolas Jacob Cruz killed 17 people at the South Florida high school on February 14, 2018. Jurors could sentence him to die by lethal injection. File Photo via Broward County Sheriff/UPI
Cruz, 23, has already entered guilty pleas to 17 counts of first-degree murder, but his attorneys are seeking a life sentence for the former MSD student instead of the death penalty.
Cruz has confessed to assembling an AR-15 style rifle and opening fire on his former classmates after planning the crime for seven months.
Later Thursday, jurors were scheduled to return to the Broward County court in Fort Lauderdale and hear victim impact statements from three people -- Peter Wang, 15; Helena Ramsey, 17; and Christopher Hixon, 49.
Prosecutors have so far called more than 80 witnesses in the sentencing phase of Cruz's trial. Cruz was 19 at the time of the shooting, which also injured 17 others. It was one of the deadliest mass school shootings in U.S. history.