February 14, 2018, was a tragic day at Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff. Cruz would murder 17 people, injure 17, and escape on foot by blending in with other students until he was caught approximately one hour later at nearby Coral Springs. Authorities investigated Cruz and found “a pattern of disciplinary issues and unnerving behavior”.

Nikolas Jacob Cruz was born on September 24, 1998 in South Florida, where his adoptive mother, Lynda, watched from the delivery room waiting for him to emerge. When the nurse handed her the newborn infant she was ecstatic. However, by the time he turned 3, Cruz was diagnosed with developmental delays, and when he turned 6, he’d witnessed the horror of watching his father figure’s death. Later on Nikolas was also diagnosed with a number of disorders such as depression, autism, and emotional behavioral disability. He also had trouble making friends, and being a small and slim kid, he got bullied. At the age of 16, according to school records he had a history of violence, wars, and even death. Nikolas would eventually be expelled by his junior year in High School. Some believe the trauma that Cruz had experienced was just too much and led him down a path that is “lost” and “lonely”.

Now, 4 years later in 2022 Cruz faces trial for the death penalty where the jurors are deciding whether the should send him to prison for life or he will be recommended the death penalty. While Cruz would probably hope for the best, right now things are not looking good for him as the entirety of his defense rests early in the Parkland school shooting trial. Also, it’s worth noting that his own attorneys cried during a powerful statement from an impacted victim. Finally, Judge Elizabeth Scherer completely lost it during trial a few days ago saying, “I have never experienced a level of unprofessionalism in my career”. This was directed towards Cruz’s defense team after she believed they were wasting everyone’s time as they failed to bring in a number of witnesses, while they claimed to have 80 witnesses, only about 20 were called in and a number of them were not ready. As a result, an entire trial and valuable time was wasted.

The Parkland Shooting was a devastating day, a day that saw 17 innocent students who had a whole life ahead of them, meet violent ends to an individual no older than them. I believe that we as a society can do better, we should be able to provide support for others not belittle someone else to make ourselves feel better. Before we propose actions and protests, we should look at all the small things we can do such as helping others, complimenting others, and supporting each other as you never know what other people are going through. If we can do this correctly, it could be a great first step for helping people avoid going down the dark path that Nikolas Cruz did, and hopefully put an end to the tragic shootings that occur far too often at schools. Right now, kids have to go to school with the fear of guns at the back of their minds, and innocent families are being affected for simply wanting to provide their kids with education. We must do whatever we can to prosper.