Attorney: Florida school shooter was a ‘damaged person’

By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The lead attorney for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz told the jury in his penalty trial Monday they have witnessed “things that will haunt them for the rest of their lives,” but they now need to learn what led him to massacre of 17 people four years ago before they can decide whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole. Melisa McNeill told the jury in her opening statement that Cruz committed a horrible, unspeakable act when he murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, but he was a “damaged person” whose birth mother had abused alcohol and cocaine throughout her pregnancy.