Nikolas Cruz

Nikolas Cruz's name is inextricably linked to one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. On February 14, 2018, he opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing seventeen people and wounding seventeen others. The attack was characterized by its brutality and the shooter's documented history of behavioral issues and threats that preceded it. His trial, ending in a life sentence without parole after the jury could not unanimously agree on the death penalty, was a protracted, painful public reckoning. While his personal history is one of profound disturbance and violence, the lasting cultural impact of his crime is the rise of the Parkland student survivors, who channeled their grief into creating the March for Our Lives movement, a defining force in the ongoing national debate over gun violence.