Parent Of Parkland Victim Calls Out Nikolas Cruz For Wearing COVID-19 Mask

On Tuesday, November 1, parents of the Parkland school massacre victims stood in front of the courtroom and spoke their final words to Nikolas Cruz, the gunman, prior to the 24-year-old officially being sentenced to life in prison.

Nikolas Cruz, who murdered 17 people, including 14 students and three educators, at a Parkland high school in a mass shooting in 2018, will spend the rest of his life in prison as the jury rejected the death penalty. The shooting is the deadliest school shooting in Florida history.

Jennifer Guttenberg was one of the many victim's family members to speak in the courtroom in front of Nikolas Cruz.

Mother of 14-year-old Parkland victim Jaime Guttenberg, called out 24-year-old Nikolas Cruz for wearing a COVID-19 face mask during his sentencing hearing. Guttenberg even told him it was "disrespectful to be hiding your expressions under a mask" when the families of the victims are speaking to him.

Almost immediately, Cruz took his mask off and revealed his face for the remainder of the hearing, however, the 24-year-old still did not show any emotion.

Michael Schulman was the parent of Scott Beigel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High who was murdered during the 2018 mass shooting. On Tuesday in the courtroom, Schulman said a prayer for his son, and then went on to say his biggest wish is for Nikolas Cruz to be murdered in jail.

“My hope, my prayer, is that for my birthday present I get word you are dead,” he said while pointing his finger directly at Cruz. “That the prisoners and the inmates you associate with execute the judgment that this court can’t.”

A few weeks earlier, after the jury denied Cruz the death penalty, many family members spoke out, including Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa died in the mass shooting and was one of the members inside the courtroom on that day.

As the judge read the verdict allowed, he appeared to curse under his breath. His wife, Lori, was also present during the verdict and was seen burying her face in her hand. “This should have been the death penalty 100 percent,” Lori Alhadeff told reporters after the verdict. “I am so beyond disappointed and frustrated by this outcome.”

Dr. Ilan Alhadeff also spoke out, saying he was “disgusted” with the legal system and with the jurors for this decision. “The jurors let us down,” he said.

Another family member, Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the school shooting, also spoke out after the verdict, saying, “I’m not often stunned, but I am stunned by this verdict today. I could not be more disappointed,” he said.

He continued, “I don’t know how this jury came to the conclusions that they did.”

“There are 17 victims that did not receive justice today,” Guttenberg explained. “This jury failed our families today. But I will tell you: The monster is gonna go to prison, and in prison, I hope and pray, he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others. … He will die in prison, and I will be waiting to read that news on that.”