Parkland School Shooter Trial: He Chose Valentine’s Day Because He Had ‘No One to Love’

The school shooter who killed 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 specifically chose Valentine’s Day for the massacre because he had “no one to love and love him.”

In March, Nikolas Cruz was interviewed by prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Charles Scott and revealed more of what led him to kill his innocent classmates. A video of the March interview was played during his penalty trial Monday.

“This was not a spur of the moment decision,” the psychiatrist said in court, per Fox 13 News. “This was planned out for months.”

Scott explained that Cruz’s behavior began to spiral after a girlfriend broke up with him six months prior to the killing. The psychiatrist also said that Cruz made sure his rifles would shoot accurately the day of the shooting the night before he committed the massacre. “I couldn’t sleep,” Cruz told Scott.

Cruz also told the psychiatrist that he stopped shooting and fled the scene when “I didn’t have anyone else to kill.” He had planned the shooting for months, even years.

“I studied mass murderers and how they did it,” Cruz told Scott. “How they planned, what they got and what they used.” he later added: “I should have the opportunity to shoot people for about 20 minutes.”

Last year, Cruz, now 24, pleaded guilty to the murders in February 2018. The penalty trial will now decide whether he will be sentenced to death or life without the possibility of parole. A unanimous vote is required for him to be sentenced to death.

The prosecution hopes the psychiatrist’s testimony will rebut claims made by Cruz’s attorneys that his mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy led him to suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, leading to the shooting and his violent behavior.