Parkland School Shooter Nikolas Cruz Formally Sentenced to Life in Prison

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz sits at the defense table during a victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Nov. 2, 2022. Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer as she pronounced 34 consecutive life sentences—one each for the slain and the 17 he wounded—for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale.