Florida high school shooting author pleads guilty to 17 murders

The former student accused of perpetrating a massacre at the high school in Parkland, in Florida, on February 14, 2018, pleaded guilty in court Wednesday to murdering 17 people that day.

Nicholas CruzThe 23-year-old pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, for the people he injured during his attack, in Broward County court.

On February 14, 2018, Cruz he killed 17 people and wounded as many with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, from where he had been expelled a year earlier for “disciplinary reasons.”

He was 19 years old when he carried out the massacre, one of the worst at a school in the United States since the 2012 one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. On that occasion 26 people died, including 20 small children.

Cruz, who came to court dressed in a blue collared shirt and black vest, and wore oversized glasses and a mask, answered “guilty” after Judge Elizabeth Scherer read each of the charges.

The shooting of Parkland sparked an unprecedented mobilization to limit arms sales in USA.

But, more than three and a half years later, the polarized US Congress has yet to vote on any meaningful reform on gun ownership.

Cruz he was able to easily acquire a semi-automatic rifle, despite having a history of mental problems.

The young man was known for his obsession with guns and had been singled out as a possible threat to his classmates.