The families of three students who were killed during the 2018 Parkland high school massacre and one wounded student reached multimillion-dollar settlements Thursday of a lawsuit against 25-year-old shooter Nikolas Cruz.
A settlement of $50 million per family was reached by the parents of murdered students Luke Hoyer, 15, Alaina Petty, 14, and Meadow Pollack, 18, with wounded student Maddy Wilford agreeing to settle at $40 million, according to The Associated Press. While the settlement comes as a victory for the families and Wilford, the families attorney, David Brill, acknowledged it would be unlikely that they ever received the money, the outlet reported.
“The chief rationale for the judgment amounts is simply in the event that the killer ever comes into possession of money, we could execute on the judgments and obtain it, thus preventing him from buying any creature comforts,” Brill told AP News.
Cruz pleaded guilty in 2021 to 17 counts of first-degree murder and another set of 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder after killing 14 students, three staff members and injuring 16 other people in addition to Wilford at Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The shooter avoided a death sentence during his penalty trial in 2022 and is now serving the 34 total counts without the possibility of parole at an undisclosed prison.
Since the shooting, the families impacted were involved in litigation with the United States and eventually were awarded $127.5 million in 2022, according to the Department of Justice. Following Cruz’s conviction, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer had ordered any money placed within his prison commissary account to be seized in order to pay restitution to victims and the families as well, the AP reported.
Cruz agreed in June to sign over the rights to his name and likeness to former student Anthony Borges, prohibiting the shooter from giving any interviews unless approved by Borges, the AP reported. Additionally, the former student now has the right to an annuity Cruz received before the killings that could be worth $400,000, according to the AP.
However, Brill challenged Borges’ settlement, claiming he had verbally agreed with Borges’ attorney that the clients would split the potential proceeds from Cruz’s annuity while donating the remainder to the charities of choice, according to the AP.
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