Florida prosecutors release videos made by Parkland shooter

Cellphone videos released Wednesday offer a gut-wrenching look at the planning Nikolas Cruz put into the attack at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Fla. The mass shooting left 17 people dead—three fewer than Cruz said he hoped to kill. “When you see me on the news, you’ll all know who I am,” Cruz said with a laugh in one of the three videos. “You’re all going to die. … Can’t wait.” In another video, Cruz details the logistics of his meticulously planned attack. He carried out the plan nearly down to the minute. The State Attorney’s Office in Broward County released the videos after turning them over to Cruz’s defense team as part of the pre-trial discovery process. Under Florida law, once the evidence changes hands, it becomes public record. For that reason, Cruz’s attorneys said they did not request security camera footage from inside the school or the victims’ autopsy reports. “This is an awful case and today is more of that awfulness and further shows how severely broken a human being the defendant is,” defense attorney Howard Finklestein said in a statement. Finklestein has repeatedly offered to have Cruz plead guilty in exchange for life in prison. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.