More victims to address Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz on Wednesday before sentencing

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Some family members of the victims of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz seemed bewildered that he escaped the death penalty as they addressed him in court during a sentencing hearing Tuesday.

Statements from more victims' families will come Wednesday before Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally imposes a life sentence on Cruz, who pleaded guilty to the Valentine's Day 2018 mass murder at Marjory Stone Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Debbie Hixon, the widow of Parkland football and wrestling coach Chris Hixon, who was killed in the shooting, was the first family member to make a statement to Cruz.

"You were given a gift - a gift of grace and mercy," Hixon said. "Something you did not show to any of your victims."

Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was among the victims, told ABC News Live he had hoped for the death penalty.

"Even the death penalty was not enough for me," he said. "The way that Joaquin died ... the amount of suffering and pain, the shooter will have never received that punishment."

Wearing orange prison garb and a face mask, Cruz was present in the courtroom, flanked by his lawyers, but did not address the court and kept his eyes on the floor while the victims spoke. None of the jury members looked in his direction.

"You don't know me, but you tried to kill me," teacher Stacey Lippel, who survived the shooting, told Cruz.

"The person I was at 2:20 [p.m.] on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, is not the same one who stands here today. I am broken and altered, and I will never look at the world the same way again."

In October, jurors found Cruz, 24, had aggravating factors that warranted a possible death sentence, but said that they did not outweigh the mitigating factors. A unanimous decision would have been required to issue a death sentence under Florida law. Three jurors voted against the death penalty during deliberations.

Scherer must follow the recommendation of the jury and is expected to formally impose the life sentence without parole Wednesday.

Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the massacre, said he was "stunned" by the verdict from the jury in October.

"I could not be more disappointed," he told reporters Oct. 13. "I don't know how this jury came to the conclusions that they did."

Cruz initially pleaded guilty in 2022 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in what is the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. high school.