Parkland victims’ families criticize jury’s death penalty decision: “You created a precedent for the next mass killing”

Thursday, outraged family of those killed in the 2018 Parkland high school shooting blasted a jury for refusing to impose the death penalty on the perpetrator.

Lori Alhadeff and her husband, Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was among the 17 killed in the February 14, 2018, shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, told reporters after the verdict was read that they were “outraged” by the jury’s recommendation that the gunman be sentenced to life without parole.

“I am appalled by our judicial system. I am appalled by those jurors. I am horrified by this system, which allows 17 people to die and 17 more to be shot and injured without imposing the death penalty “Ilan Alhadeff stated.

“You created a precedent for the next mass murder,” the bereaved father told the twelve jurors, describing their verdict as “a stain on the planet.”

“I pray that the animal suffers every day of his life in bars and dies young,” he said of the shooter.

Fred and Jennifer Gutenberg, the parents of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Jaime Gutenberg, react during the sentencing phase of his trial.
Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel via Associated Press, Pool

Lori Alhadeff mirrored her husband’s sentiments, stating that the couple was “very dissatisfied with today’s result.”

She stated that the death penalty should have been mandatory. “I cannot comprehend this. I simply do not comprehend this.”

Michael Schulman, whose 35-year-old son Scott Beigel was slain in the incident, criticized the verdict as well.

Schulman told reporters, “This beast deserves to die since he hunted these humans.” He planned months in advance.

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie, age 14, was also slain in the mass shooting, told reporters he was “stunned” and “devastated” that the 17 victims of the horrific shooting “did not obtain justice today.”

“I believe that anyone planning a shooting today is aware that there is a way to avoid the death penalty where it exists,” Guttenberg stated.

He stated that he “could not be more dissatisfied with today’s events.”