The families of three students killed and one injured in the 2018 Parkland High School shooting reached a multimillion-dollar settlement Thursday in their lawsuit against the 25-year-old gunman, Nikolas Cruz.
The parents of slain students Luke Heuer, 15, Alaina Petty, 14, and Meadow Pollack, 18, reached settlements of $50 million per family, while injured student Maddie Wilford agreed to settle for $40 million. according to While the settlement is a win for the family and Wilford, their lawyer, David Brill, acknowledged that it's unlikely the family will ever receive any money, according to the Associated Press. (Related article: Judge allows Parkland shooting reenactment to include live ammunition)
“The main justification for the sentence is so that if the killer does get his hands on the money, we can enforce the sentence and recover the money and prevent him from living a comfortable life,” Brill told The Associated Press.
Cruz pleaded guilty in 2021 to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder for killing Wilford, 14 students and three staff members, and wounding 16 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He avoided the death penalty at his 2022 sentencing and is currently serving time in an undisclosed prison on a total of 34 charges without the possibility of parole.
Two people embrace at the memorial at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in memory of the victims. (Photo by Saul Martinez/Getty Images)
Since the shooting, the victim's family has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the United States, eventually winning $127.5 million in compensation in 2022. according to Following Cruz's conviction, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer ordered that money in Cruz's prison commissary account be seized to pay restitution to victims and their families, the Associated Press reported.
According to the Associated Press, Cruz agreed in June to transfer his name and likeness rights to a former student, Anthony Borges, and would not give any interviews without Borges' permission. The former student is also now entitled to the pension Cruz received before the murders, which could be worth as much as $400,000, according to the AP.
But Brill disputed Borges' settlement, claiming he had verbally agreed with Borges' lawyers that their clients would share any potential earnings from Cruz's pension and donate the remainder to charities of their own choosing, according to the Associated Press.
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