At 2:19 p.m. on February 14, 2018, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland emerged from an Uber carrying a rifle bag that contained a Smith and Wesson, model MP-15 semi-automatic firearm.
About two and half minutes later, after walking briskly onto campus and into a three-story classroom building known as the 1200 Building, he fired the first of what would be 139 rounds. In less than four minutes, his gunfire would kill 17, wound 17, and inflict on the school and surrounding community the deepest of wounds - pain that will last as long as those affected are alive.
In the ensuing five and a half years, prosecutors with the office of Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor would fail to achieve their goals in the only two criminal cases to stem from the massacre: a jury could not unanimously agree on a death sentence for the killer, who pleaded guilty, so he had to be sentenced to life in prison without parole; and another jury unanimously found a school resource deputy who did not confront the killer during the shootings was not guilty of child neglect and other charges Pryor’s office brought.
While civil cases remain pending against some of those involved, the criminal proceedings are over.
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What follows is a summary of some key events stemming from the worst mass shooting in a Florida school.
But first, to remember and honor those lost, here is a summary of victim impact statements given by loved ones of the 17 who died.
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By 2:27 p.m., the shooter would fire his last shot in a third-floor teachers lounge in a failed attempt to break open a hurricane-proof window so he could kill more people below as a sniper.
He walked out of the building, grabbed an ICEE from a Subway sandwich counter, walked to a McDonald’s where he sat with (coincidentally) the brother of one of the students he had just shot and wounded, and then strolled through a neighborhood where – at 3:37 p.m. - he was detained by a Coconut Creek police officer responding to the shooting and aware of the suspect description.
Officer Michael Leonard would later receive his department’s Medal of Valor for the arrest.
By 6:10 p.m., the shooter would be in a Broward Sheriff’s Office interrogation room, where for much of the next six hours he would confess to his crimes. Here are some key moments from that interrogation.
For the most comprehensive, authoritative analysis of what occurred on Feb. 14, 2018, what led up to it, and recommendations to prevent future similar crimes, read the Jan. 2, 2019 report of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission.
Charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 of attempted murder, the killer’s public defender almost immediately announced he would plead guilty as charged and be sentened to life without parole, if the state would not seek the death penalty. The state rejected the offer, securing his indictment on March 7, 2018, and filing its notice of intent to seek the death penalty six days later.
On March 9, 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott signed into law new provisions passed in response to the shooting aimed at protecting schools and limiting access to firearms to young and dangerous people.
On November 13, 2018, the killer attacked a sheriff’s correctional officer assigned to watch him. He would plead guilty to that battery and it would be used against him in his 2022 sentencing trial.
In January 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, and appointed Gregory Tony in his place.
The move, just a few days after DeSantis took office, touched off court and legislative battles that would last months – though Israel’s efforts to regain his position were rejected by judges, the state Senate and voters when his election bid against Tony failed in August 2020.
One law enforcement leader who said he did not see grounds for Israel’s removal explained his reasoning in an interview with NBC6 in December 2018:
In June 2019, then-State Attorney Michael Satz charged the school resource deputy at MSD with child neglect and culpable negligence in connection to six deaths and four injuries sufferred by those shot on the third floor of the 1200 Building. The state’s theory: had that now-fired and retired deputy, Scot Peterson, gone into the building when he arrived there and confronted the killer, he could have protected the subsequent victims.
On Oct. 20. 2021, the shooter pleaded guilty as charged without a deal with the state, setting up what would be a month-long sentencing trial where the only possible outcomes would be life or death.
That trial began July 18, 2022 and resulted on October 13, 2022 in the jury failing to unanimously recommend death. As required by Florida law, the killer would be sentenced to life without parole on Nov. 2, 2022.
In one more legislative and political reaction to the MSD case, in April 2023 DeSantis signed into a law a new provision in Florida’s death penalty statute, allowing judges to impose death sentences as long as at least 8 of 12 jurors recommend it – making Florida the only state in the nation with that low a threshold to impose death.
On June 29, 2023, a six-person jury acquitted the former school resource deputy Scot Peterson of all charges.
