A Deerfield Township man accused of sexually assaulting children had his bond set at $300,000 Thursday.John "Ben" Reynolds, 53, is charged with one count of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition. Detectives with the Warren County Sheriff's Office said they've identified three victims who were known to Reynolds.According to court documents obtained by WLWT, the children are currently between 13 and 14 years old. Two are girls and one is a boy. Documents state the sexual assaults started in 2016 and took place at multiple locations including Liberty Center, the KOA campground in Lebanon, a local YMCA and Reynolds' home.The children told social workers who interviewed them that Reynolds would buy them items such as jewelry, clothes, stuffed animals, toys and candy, according to court documents.The investigation into the assaults began after the mother of a child reported Reynolds to Butler County Children Services in April.During Reynolds' arraignment Thursday, his attorney, Edward Perry, said his client was a family man."He is married, judge. He's been married for 29 years, and he's got three grown children," Perry said. Perry said his client moved to Warren County after graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1992."He came to Warren County and made Warren County his home, and he's been here ever since. He was married here. He purchased and bought a home in Mason, Ohio. Him, his wife and his family have been in that house in Mason for the last 22 years," Perry said.Perry said Reynolds has been employed as a software developer, most recently by the Cincinnati Financial Corporation."He suspects that, because of his arrest, that job is no longer available to him," Perry said. Detectives said Reynolds was involved with a Boy Scout troop out of Mason, but they say the children are not associated with the scouts.Reynolds is scheduled to be back in Lebanon Municipal Court on June 2 for a preliminary hearing.

Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz viewed graphic video Tuesday of him murdering 17 people as he stalked through a three-story classroom building at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago.The video, compiled from 13 security cameras inside the building, was not shown to the gallery, where parents of many of the victims sat. Prosecutors say it shows Cruz shooting many of his victims at point-blank range, going back to some as they lay wounded on the floor to kill them with a second volley of shots.The 12 jurors and 10 alternates stared intently at their video screens. Many held hands to their faces as they viewed the 15-minute recording, which has no sound.Some started squirming. One juror looked at the screen, looked up at Cruz with his eyes wide and then returned to the video.Cruz looked down while the video played and did not appear to watch it. He sometimes looked up to exchange whispers with one of his attorneys.The video was played over the objection of Cruz's attorneys, who argued that any evidentiary value it has is outweighed by the emotions it would raise in the jurors. They argued that witness statements of what happened would be sufficient.Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer dismissed the objection, saying a video that accurately reflects Cruz's crimes does not unfairly prejudice his case. Prosecutors are using the video to prove several aggravating factors, including that Cruz acted in a cold, calculated and cruel manner.Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder, and 17 more counts of attempted murder for those he wounded. The jury must decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.Later on day two of the trial, jurors heard testimony from Christopher McKenna, who was a freshman during the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting. He had left his English class to go to the bathroom and exchanged greetings with two students, Luke Hoyer and Martin Duque, as they crossed paths in the first-floor hallway. McKenna then entered a stairwell and encountered Cruz assembling his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle."He said get out of here. Things are about to get bad," McKenna recalled.McKenna sprinted out to the parking lot as Cruz went into the hallway and began shooting. McKenna alerted Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach who doubled as a security guard. Feis drove McKenna in his golf cart to an adjacent building for safety, and then went to the three-story building McKenna fled from.By then, the sounds of gunfire were already ringing out across the campus. Feis went in and was fatally shot immediately by Cruz, who had already killed Hoyer, 15, and Duque, 14, and eight others. Cruz then continued through the second floor, where he fired into classrooms but hit no one. When he reached the third-floor, he killed six more.The jurors also heard testimony from English teacher Dara Hass, who had three students killed and several wounded in her classroom when Cruz fired through a window in the door."The sound was so loud. The students were screaming," said Hass, who wept and dabbed her eyes with tissue as she testified. She thought it might be a drill, but then she spotted the body of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who had been fatally shot at his desk."That's when I saw it wasn't a drill," she said. Two 14-year-old girls also died in the classroom: Alaina Petty and Alyssa Alhadeff.When police arrived and evacuated her students, Hass said she did not want to leave but officers convinced her."I wanted to stay with the students who couldn't go," she said, referring to Schachter, Petty and Alhadeff.One student in her class, Alexander Dworet, said he originally thought the loud bangs were the school's marching band, but then he felt a "hot sensation" on the back of his head where he had been grazed by a bullet and "I realized I was in danger."Dworet's 17-year-old brother, Nick, was across the hall in his Holocaust studies class. Cruz fired into that classroom, too, killing him. Jury selectionThe jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive. The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense. The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooterPleading guilty to all chargesCruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in courtBy pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions."He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said. Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court. Trial preparationsTrial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz releasedHis lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.Video below: Cruz interrogation video releasedMuch of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand. Victims of the Parkland school shootingSeventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.Can't see the graphic? Click here.Settlement with Broward School DistrictThe Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recordingFour years after shootingFor many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.Students and families turned into activists.'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shootingJim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims."These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.David Hogg was one of the founders."When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shootingFour years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacreIt's become a full-time job nobody wants."We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shootingThey just ask you not to call it closure."It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz viewed graphic video Tuesday of him murdering 17 people as he stalked through a three-story classroom building at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago.

The video, compiled from 13 security cameras inside the building, was not shown to the gallery, where parents of many of the victims sat. Prosecutors say it shows Cruz shooting many of his victims at point-blank range, going back to some as they lay wounded on the floor to kill them with a second volley of shots.

The 12 jurors and 10 alternates stared intently at their video screens. Many held hands to their faces as they viewed the 15-minute recording, which has no sound.

Some started squirming. One juror looked at the screen, looked up at Cruz with his eyes wide and then returned to the video.

Cruz looked down while the video played and did not appear to watch it. He sometimes looked up to exchange whispers with one of his attorneys.

The video was played over the objection of Cruz's attorneys, who argued that any evidentiary value it has is outweighed by the emotions it would raise in the jurors. They argued that witness statements of what happened would be sufficient.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer dismissed the objection, saying a video that accurately reflects Cruz's crimes does not unfairly prejudice his case. Prosecutors are using the video to prove several aggravating factors, including that Cruz acted in a cold, calculated and cruel manner.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder, and 17 more counts of attempted murder for those he wounded. The jury must decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.

Later on day two of the trial, jurors heard testimony from Christopher McKenna, who was a freshman during the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting. He had left his English class to go to the bathroom and exchanged greetings with two students, Luke Hoyer and Martin Duque, as they crossed paths in the first-floor hallway. McKenna then entered a stairwell and encountered Cruz assembling his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

"He said get out of here. Things are about to get bad," McKenna recalled.

McKenna sprinted out to the parking lot as Cruz went into the hallway and began shooting. McKenna alerted Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach who doubled as a security guard. Feis drove McKenna in his golf cart to an adjacent building for safety, and then went to the three-story building McKenna fled from.

By then, the sounds of gunfire were already ringing out across the campus. Feis went in and was fatally shot immediately by Cruz, who had already killed Hoyer, 15, and Duque, 14, and eight others. Cruz then continued through the second floor, where he fired into classrooms but hit no one. When he reached the third-floor, he killed six more.

The jurors also heard testimony from English teacher Dara Hass, who had three students killed and several wounded in her classroom when Cruz fired through a window in the door.

"The sound was so loud. The students were screaming," said Hass, who wept and dabbed her eyes with tissue as she testified. She thought it might be a drill, but then she spotted the body of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who had been fatally shot at his desk.

"That's when I saw it wasn't a drill," she said. Two 14-year-old girls also died in the classroom: Alaina Petty and Alyssa Alhadeff.

Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP, Pool

When police arrived and evacuated her students, Hass said she did not want to leave but officers convinced her.

"I wanted to stay with the students who couldn't go," she said, referring to Schachter, Petty and Alhadeff.

One student in her class, Alexander Dworet, said he originally thought the loud bangs were the school's marching band, but then he felt a "hot sensation" on the back of his head where he had been grazed by a bullet and "I realized I was in danger."

Dworet's 17-year-old brother, Nick, was across the hall in his Holocaust studies class. Cruz fired into that classroom, too, killing him.

---

Jury selection

The jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive.

The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense.

The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.

Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.

Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooter

Pleading guilty to all charges

Cruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.

Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in court

By pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions.

"He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said.

Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.

If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court.

Trial preparations

Trial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.

Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.

Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz released

His lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz interrogation video released

Much of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand.

Victims of the Parkland school shooting

Seventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.

Can't see the graphic? Click here.

Settlement with Broward School District

The Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.

Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.

A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.

Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recording

Four years after shooting

For many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.

Students and families turned into activists.

'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shooting

Jim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims.

"These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.

And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.

David Hogg was one of the founders.

"When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."

Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shooting

Four years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.

They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.

'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacre

It's become a full-time job nobody wants.

"We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.

When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.

Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shooting

They just ask you not to call it closure.

"It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz walked casually into a sandwich shop minutes after he murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago, showing no signs of stress or nervousness, video played at his penalty trial Thursday showed.Cruz then walked to a nearby McDonald's, where, by coincidence, he unsuccessfully sought a ride from the brother of a girl he had seriously wounded. The boy did not know who Cruz was.Thursday's abbreviated court session focused on Cruz's attempted escape after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting and his arrest, about an hour after he fled the campus. The mostly low-key testimony and evidence stood in contrast with the previous three emotional days, which covered the seven minutes Cruz stalked a three-story classroom building firing his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle into crowded classrooms and hallways.After the shooting, Cruz fled the building, dressed in a burgundy shirt from the Stoneman Douglas Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps — he had been a member when he attended the school — and a New York City Police Department cap.The former Stoneman Douglas student blended in with students who were evacuating campus and went to a nearby Walmart, where security video shows that 25 minutes after he stopped shooting, he turned into the Subway sandwich shop inside the entrance.Store manager Carlos Rugeles testified that Cruz ordered a cherry and blue raspberry Icee. The video shows that when Cruz got his drink and change, he tossed the coins into the tip jar, stuck a straw into the lid and walked out.Eight minutes later, Cruz entered a nearby McDonald's, still drinking his Icee, store video shows. He climbed into a booth with then-Stoneman Douglas freshman John Wilford, who did not know him.Wilford testified that he didn't know exactly what had happened at the school, but after evacuating, he had been trying to call his older sister Maddy — he didn't know she had been seriously wounded by this stranger. When he couldn't reach her, he called his mom, who said she would pick him up.He then tried to make small talk with Cruz."I told him, 'This is so chaotic, it's crazy with all these helicopters and squad cars. What do you think this could be?'" Wilford recalled. "He didn't say much. He had his head down."A minute later, Wilford went to meet his mother in the parking lot. Cruz followed and asked for a ride, but Wilford said no."He was pretty insistent on it. I wasn't really thinking much of it. I just wanted to get home and my sister wasn't answering her phone," Wilford said.Cruz walked away. He was arrested about a half-hour later by Michael Leonard, an officer with the neighboring Coconut Creek Police Department. Leonard testified he was driving through neighborhoods looking for anyone matching the shooter's description.The officer was 3 miles from the school and about to drive back toward it when he spotted Cruz walking on a residential street. He said he stopped and Cruz looked at him. He pulled his gun and ordered Cruz to the ground. Cruz complied.A search found $350 in Cruz's pocket.Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder. The jury must only decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.Nine other gunmen who killed at least 17 people died during or immediately after their shootings, either by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 slaying of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.When jurors eventually get the case, probably in October or November, they will vote 17 times, once for each of the victims, on whether to recommend capital punishment.For each death sentence, the jury must be unanimous or the sentence for that victim is life. The jurors are told that to vote for death, the prosecution's aggravating circumstances for that victim must, in their judgment, "outweigh" the defense's mitigators. A juror can also vote for life out of mercy for Cruz. During jury selection, the panelists said under oath that they are capable of voting for either sentence. Jury selectionThe jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive. The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense. The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooterPleading guilty to all chargesCruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in courtBy pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions."He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said. Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court. Trial preparationsTrial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz releasedHis lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.Video below: Cruz interrogation video releasedMuch of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand. Victims of the Parkland school shootingSeventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.Can't see the graphic? Click here.Settlement with Broward School DistrictThe Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recordingFour years after shootingFor many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.Students and families turned into activists.'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shootingJim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims."These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.David Hogg was one of the founders."When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shootingFour years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacreIt's become a full-time job nobody wants."We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shootingThey just ask you not to call it closure."It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz walked casually into a sandwich shop minutes after he murdered 14 students and three staff members at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago, showing no signs of stress or nervousness, video played at his penalty trial Thursday showed.

Cruz then walked to a nearby McDonald's, where, by coincidence, he unsuccessfully sought a ride from the brother of a girl he had seriously wounded. The boy did not know who Cruz was.

Thursday's abbreviated court session focused on Cruz's attempted escape after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting and his arrest, about an hour after he fled the campus. The mostly low-key testimony and evidence stood in contrast with the previous three emotional days, which covered the seven minutes Cruz stalked a three-story classroom building firing his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle into crowded classrooms and hallways.

After the shooting, Cruz fled the building, dressed in a burgundy shirt from the Stoneman Douglas Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps — he had been a member when he attended the school — and a New York City Police Department cap.

The former Stoneman Douglas student blended in with students who were evacuating campus and went to a nearby Walmart, where security video shows that 25 minutes after he stopped shooting, he turned into the Subway sandwich shop inside the entrance.

Store manager Carlos Rugeles testified that Cruz ordered a cherry and blue raspberry Icee. The video shows that when Cruz got his drink and change, he tossed the coins into the tip jar, stuck a straw into the lid and walked out.

Eight minutes later, Cruz entered a nearby McDonald's, still drinking his Icee, store video shows. He climbed into a booth with then-Stoneman Douglas freshman John Wilford, who did not know him.

Wilford testified that he didn't know exactly what had happened at the school, but after evacuating, he had been trying to call his older sister Maddy — he didn't know she had been seriously wounded by this stranger. When he couldn't reach her, he called his mom, who said she would pick him up.

Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool

He then tried to make small talk with Cruz.

"I told him, 'This is so chaotic, it's crazy with all these helicopters and squad cars. What do you think this could be?'" Wilford recalled. "He didn't say much. He had his head down."

A minute later, Wilford went to meet his mother in the parking lot. Cruz followed and asked for a ride, but Wilford said no.

"He was pretty insistent on it. I wasn't really thinking much of it. I just wanted to get home and my sister wasn't answering her phone," Wilford said.

Cruz walked away. He was arrested about a half-hour later by Michael Leonard, an officer with the neighboring Coconut Creek Police Department. Leonard testified he was driving through neighborhoods looking for anyone matching the shooter's description.

The officer was 3 miles from the school and about to drive back toward it when he spotted Cruz walking on a residential street. He said he stopped and Cruz looked at him. He pulled his gun and ordered Cruz to the ground. Cruz complied.

A search found $350 in Cruz's pocket.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder. The jury must only decide if he should be sentenced to death or life without parole for the nation's deadliest mass shooting to go before a jury.

Nine other gunmen who killed at least 17 people died during or immediately after their shootings, either by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 slaying of 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.

When jurors eventually get the case, probably in October or November, they will vote 17 times, once for each of the victims, on whether to recommend capital punishment.

For each death sentence, the jury must be unanimous or the sentence for that victim is life. The jurors are told that to vote for death, the prosecution's aggravating circumstances for that victim must, in their judgment, "outweigh" the defense's mitigators. A juror can also vote for life out of mercy for Cruz. During jury selection, the panelists said under oath that they are capable of voting for either sentence.

---

Jury selection

The jurors currently on the main panel are two banking executives and two technology workers, a probation officer, a human resources professional and a Walmart store stock supervisor. Also included are a librarian, a medical claims adjuster, a legal assistant, a customs officer and a retired insurance executive.

The jury selection was filled with setbacks and possible mistrials over the questioning of possible jurors and COVID-19 cases on the defense.

The defense asked to delay the trial because of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead. McNeill’s team argued that the shooting has again raised emotions in Broward County and makes it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial currently.

Many of the possible jurors were not able to hold seat because of the time commitment for the lengthy process.

Full Recap: Jury sworn in to sentencing trial for Parkland high school shooter

Pleading guilty to all charges

Cruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the deadly shooting.

Legal analysts said Cruz’s plan to plead guilty to all charges in the Parkland shooting — along with the guilty plea in a battery on a jail guard charge — is a calculated move by his attorneys for him to avoid the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz pleads guilty in court

By pleading guilty to killing 17 people and attempting to kill 17 more in 2018, legal experts said Cruz is hoping to convince the jury that he is taking some responsibility for his actions.

"He’s trying to save his life, and the only way to do that is to take responsibility and not put all these poor people through a trial," criminal defense attorney Marc Shiner said.

Death penalty trials in Florida and much of the country often take two years to start because of their complexity, but Cruz's was further delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive legal wrangling.

If Cruz is sentenced to death, that will still not be the end of the process. Death sentences in Florida are given automatic priority review by the Florida Supreme Court.

Trial preparations

Trial preparations were extensive for what was expected to be the biggest murder trial in Broward County history for one of the most infamous crimes in Florida history.

Cruz was arrested about an hour after the attack with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on Valentine's Day 2018.

Video below: Body camera of arrest of Nikolas Cruz released

His lawyers repeatedly offered to plead guilty in return for a guaranteed sentence of life in prison, but prosecutors refused to drop their pursuit of the death penalty.

Video below: Cruz interrogation video released

Much of the penalty phase is expected to focus on Cruz’s mental condition at the time of the slayings, with prosecutors emphasizing their horrific nature and Cruz’s intensive planning beforehand.

Victims of the Parkland school shooting

Seventeen students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Seventeen others were injured.

Can't see the graphic? Click here.

Settlement with Broward School District

The Broward County School District will pay more than $26 million to the families of the victims.

Board members approved the two legal settlements on in December 2021.

A total of $25 million will be shared by 51 plaintiffs, including families of the 17 dead as well as students and staff who were injured. Another $1.25 million will be paid in one lump sum to Anthony Borges, who suffered some of the most severe injuries.

Video below: Nikolas Cruz outlines shooting plan in video recording

Four years after shooting

For many families, they said there will never be closure for the loss of their loved ones.

Students and families turned into activists.

'I still can't believe this is my reality': Parkland parent creates way to track school violence after son is killed in school shooting

Jim Gard, a math teacher that day, said they were all victims.

"These kids that were in the class, just because they weren't hit doesn't mean they weren’t hit," he said.

And since that day, so many of those victims have refused to just sit back and do nothing. In the days following the shooting, a movement called March For Our Lives was born.

David Hogg was one of the founders.

"When we started doing the march, we thought there would be about 90 people that we could get up to D.C.," Hogg said. "We got near a million."

Video below: Father of Parkland victim hangs banner in view of White House four years after shooting

Four years later, March For Our Lives is still going strong with chapters across the country.

They’ve helped pass state laws designed to keep guns away from violent offenders. They’ve worked to get more federal funding to control gun violence.

'I have to accomplish her dream': Hunter Pollack changes career path after sister is murdered in Parkland massacre

It's become a full-time job nobody wants.

"We want our job to be done so we can go back to being college students or high school students and young people and young professionals," Hogg said.

When they watched the Parkland shooter plead guilty to the murders he committed, both Hogg and Gard are pleased to see this chapter end.

Video below: School safety changes made following Parkland school shooting

They just ask you not to call it closure.

"It's the parents of the kids, the parents who lost their children, I don’t know if there can ever be closure on that," Gard said. "I know for a lot of the people that I talked to, families that I talked to, there is not closure that can come. There’s nothing that will ever bring their kids back, their siblings back, their best friends back."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, call 211 or the National Suicide Hotline at 988.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the "Creed" movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar thrum of another mass shooting.Five people in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia were gunned down Monday in what became the deadliest among a rash of U.S. shootings that occurred around the July Fourth holiday. A gunman in a ski mask and body armor appeared to fire on people at random while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said.Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting. Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also wounded.The alleged shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges including five counts of murder.The victims' families remain shattered as they now cope with the feeling of senseless loss.Ralph Moralis: The "go-to-guy"Ralph Moralis' daughter was to be married Sunday. But instead of focusing on the joy of her wedding day, she is now planning her father's funeral, said Karen Gleason, his sister-in-law.All the joy they had been feeling leading up to the momentous occasion was torn away when Moralis was shot outside the childhood home where he lived. The entire family, including Moralis' two brothers, have not stopped crying since hearing the news."It's unfathomable," she said. "It's so unbelievable that you can't even go out your front door."The 59-year-old had been prepping for weeks on what he would wear, making sure he wouldn't mess up during his first child's wedding rehearsal. Moralis was always the one willing to go out of his way to help."He was the go-to-guy whether you needed a bike put together for one of the kids or his cousin was saying: 'I need to get to Florida. Can you drive me?'" she said. "He would do that. He was just there always for family and always willing to help."Joseph Wamah Jr.: Aspiring actor with deep artistic talent Joseph Wamah Jr. knew acting was his calling. The 31-year-old studied psychology at Chestnut Hill College but he became active in the local Philadelphia acting community, said close friend Terrance Harden. He even got a role as an extra in one of the "Creed" movies, starring Michael B. Jordan.Harden, who has known Wamah since high school, said the two bonded over their love of filmmaking. Before Wamah was found dead inside a home early Tuesday, Harden had imagined the two would grow old as friends and achieve the level of success that they both wanted for each other."With such a great attitude, such a positive outlook on life, it almost seems like good fortune ought to come your way," he said. "That's why it was so hard to believe that this could have happened to him."Wamah's twin sister Josephine and another sister, Jasmine, were full of anger Wednesday as they spoke at a news conference of a brother who had a smile and hug for everyone."I just still can't believe that my brother is gone. And I just don't understand why this happened. He was a kind soul. He was nice to everyone," Josephine Wamah said.Wamah also loved to cook — despite having little culinary talent. But his real gift was as an artist, his sisters said."He had the worst cooking. We still ate it because he just... he tried. He couldn't cook, but he could sketch his butt off," Josephine Wamah said. "It was so detail-oriented and so passionate. It was so rooted and down to earth. It was just spiritual. You could feel this man's emotions in every brushstroke."Josephine Wamah said she plans to find all of her brother's artwork and share his talent with the world."I just don't understand how someone could just do that to my brother. I really loved him," she said.Lashyd Merritt: A good kid Lashyd Merritt's mother told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that her son was a good kid who loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He loved buying them gifts at Christmas.Marie Merritt said Lashyd Merritt, who would have been 22 in September, was out buying a snack while on a work break Monday. "I don't understand why people just — whatever anger they have within themselves— I don't understand why someone in the neighborhood would have that type of stuff, like guns -- I don't understand that," Marie Merritt said. "And you're just taking good people away,"She wants the suspected shooter to "rot in jail." She also is thinking about how her son would feel."(My heart) is broken. I feel him saying, 'Why me?'"Dajuan Brown: Killed while helping a friend DaJuan Brown's mother, Nashaya Thomas, told WCAU-TV her teenage son was walking to a store when the gunfire started. Brown was helping a 13-year-old friend who had been shot twice in the legs when he was gunned down.He was someone people couldn't help but fall in love with."He lost his life trying to do a selfless act," she said, "and that's how he was when he was here."

PHILADELPHIA —

A father who was preparing to walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. An aspiring actor who appeared as an extra in the "Creed" movie franchise. A teenager who tried to help a wounded friend. These are the stories of those killed in the all-too-familiar thrum of another mass shooting.

Five people in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia were gunned down Monday in what became the deadliest among a rash of U.S. shootings that occurred around the July Fourth holiday. A gunman in a ski mask and body armor appeared to fire on people at random while they were on the street or in a car, authorities said.

Ralph Moralis, 59; Joseph Wamah Jr., 31; Dymir Stanton, 29; Lashyd Merritt, 21; and DaJuan Brown, 15, were killed in the shooting.

Four others, including two 2-year-old boys, were also wounded.

The alleged shooter was arraigned Wednesday on multiple charges including five counts of murder.

The victims' families remain shattered as they now cope with the feeling of senseless loss.

Ralph Moralis: The "go-to-guy"

Ralph Moralis' daughter was to be married Sunday. But instead of focusing on the joy of her wedding day, she is now planning her father's funeral, said Karen Gleason, his sister-in-law.

All the joy they had been feeling leading up to the momentous occasion was torn away when Moralis was shot outside the childhood home where he lived. The entire family, including Moralis' two brothers, have not stopped crying since hearing the news.

"It's unfathomable," she said. "It's so unbelievable that you can't even go out your front door."

The 59-year-old had been prepping for weeks on what he would wear, making sure he wouldn't mess up during his first child's wedding rehearsal. Moralis was always the one willing to go out of his way to help.

"He was the go-to-guy whether you needed a bike put together for one of the kids or his cousin was saying: 'I need to get to Florida. Can you drive me?'" she said. "He would do that. He was just there always for family and always willing to help."

Joseph Wamah Jr.: Aspiring actor with deep artistic talent

Joseph Wamah Jr. knew acting was his calling. The 31-year-old studied psychology at Chestnut Hill College but he became active in the local Philadelphia acting community, said close friend Terrance Harden. He even got a role as an extra in one of the "Creed" movies, starring Michael B. Jordan.

Harden, who has known Wamah since high school, said the two bonded over their love of filmmaking. Before Wamah was found dead inside a home early Tuesday, Harden had imagined the two would grow old as friends and achieve the level of success that they both wanted for each other.

Terrance Harden

"With such a great attitude, such a positive outlook on life, it almost seems like good fortune ought to come your way," he said. "That's why it was so hard to believe that this could have happened to him."

Wamah's twin sister Josephine and another sister, Jasmine, were full of anger Wednesday as they spoke at a news conference of a brother who had a smile and hug for everyone.

"I just still can't believe that my brother is gone. And I just don't understand why this happened. He was a kind soul. He was nice to everyone," Josephine Wamah said.

Wamah also loved to cook — despite having little culinary talent. But his real gift was as an artist, his sisters said.

"He had the worst cooking. We still ate it because he just... he tried. He couldn't cook, but he could sketch his butt off," Josephine Wamah said. "It was so detail-oriented and so passionate. It was so rooted and down to earth. It was just spiritual. You could feel this man's emotions in every brushstroke."

Josephine Wamah said she plans to find all of her brother's artwork and share his talent with the world.

"I just don't understand how someone could just do that to my brother. I really loved him," she said.

Lashyd Merritt: A good kid

Lashyd Merritt's mother told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that her son was a good kid who loved his family, especially his nieces and nephews. He loved buying them gifts at Christmas.

Marie Merritt said Lashyd Merritt, who would have been 22 in September, was out buying a snack while on a work break Monday.

"I don't understand why people just — whatever anger they have within themselves— I don't understand why someone in the neighborhood would have that type of stuff, like guns -- I don't understand that," Marie Merritt said. "And you're just taking good people away,"

She wants the suspected shooter to "rot in jail." She also is thinking about how her son would feel.

"(My heart) is broken. I feel him saying, 'Why me?'"

Dajuan Brown: Killed while helping a friend

DaJuan Brown's mother, Nashaya Thomas, told WCAU-TV her teenage son was walking to a store when the gunfire started. Brown was helping a 13-year-old friend who had been shot twice in the legs when he was gunned down.

He was someone people couldn't help but fall in love with.

"He lost his life trying to do a selfless act," she said, "and that's how he was when he was here."