A 12-member jury has voted not to give the death penalty to the gunman responsible for the Parkland shooting
The jury recommended life imprisonment without a chance of parole
Nikolas Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February 2018
Families of the victims are sharing their devastation that he has been spared the death penalty
The father of Alyssa Alhadeff, who died in the shooting, said: "I'm disgusted with our legal system, with those jurors"
It is the deadliest mass shooting to reach a jury trial in the US
The massacre sparked a wave of anti-gun protests around the US as well as the March for Our Lives movement
The jury has recommended the Parkland gunman serve life in prison without parole.
Families of the victims can be seen shaking their heads, visibly upset with the outcome.
The jurors are now being asked to verbally confirm the verdicts and are being given last minute instructions from the judge.
The final judgement - whether Cruz will live or die - will be read shortly.
The jurors have been escorted out after instructions from the judge.
Nikolas Cruz in court as the counts are read.
As the counts are being read out, Nikolas Cruz is seated next to his lawyers.
He is mostly looking down at the table, occasionally glancing up. He's rubbed his face several times, and seems to be taking deep breaths on occasion - appearing stressed. He's also rubbing his hands together.
Besides that, there's little to suggest how he is feeling about the counts being read out.
He pleaded guilty to all 17 counts of murder last year.
Christopher Hixon’s wife Debbi and son Corey are in the courthouse for the verdict.
Hixon was one of three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who were killed in the attack. A former US Navy reservist who once deployed to Iraq, he reportedly ran in the direction of the gunfire.
Jurors and even the court bailiff cried when Hixon’s impact statement was read in court during the trial.
As soon as the judge read out the jury’s recommendation that the gunman should receive a life sentence and not the death penalty for Hixon’s death, his son got up and left the room with a caretaker.
Debbi and Corey Hixon shortly before he left the court.
Image source, BBC NewsMichael Schulman and wife Linda Schulman, parents of Parkland shooting victim Scott Beigel
The judge is still reading out the verdicts for each first-degree murder count one by one.
So far, each verdict read out has recommended a life sentence for the gunman.
Sam Cabral
Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
The victims' families are sitting in the front row of the court.
More and more heads are shaking as the judge announces verdicts of life in prison, and not the death penalty.
Tony Montalto - who lost his daughter Gina in the attack - looks particularly upset. He has been shaking his head repeatedly.
He has his arm around his wife, Jennifer, who dropped her head on his shoulder when the count relating to Gina was read out.
Image source, .Tony Montalto as he listens to the judge read verdict for charges relating to his daughter
In the first eight of 17 counts, jurors have agreed on a number of aggravating factors that would warrant the death penalty, but at least one juror believes there were mitigating factors that warrant life in prison instead.
On each count, the jury must recommend either life imprisonment or death. A unanimous vote by the jury is required for the death penalty.
There are still counts to be read, and for any of them the jury could still recommend the death sentence.
The judge is currently going through the various aggravating factors that would make a culprit eligible for a death sentence.
Each count is taking several minutes to read.
The aggravating factors played a key role in the prosecution's case during the death penalty trial.
In Florida, the aggravating factors include homicides “committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification”.
Additional aggravating factors - which experts say could be key in the Parkland case - are whether the crime “was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel” and whether the defendant "created a great risk of death to many persons”.
Image source, .The Hoyer family as charges related to their son Luke Hoyer are read aloud
Seventeen separate verdicts are now being read out - one for each of the victims.
A death penalty would require a unanimous vote from the jury on any single one of these counts.
The defendant has been in near-constant conversation with members of his legal team since he sat down.
Each lawyer has taken a seat next to him and faced him as they spoke. One put a hand around his shoulder as they huddled.
The judge has asked the jury to pass the verdict forms over.
Everyone rises as the jury enters the courtroom. The families of the victims and the legal teams are inside as well. It's just a matter of moments before we have a decision.
The jury deliberated for about a day. At one point they asked for transcripts from expert witnesses and to see the AR-15 rifle used in the attack - which was brought over by the sheriff's office this morning.
They also wanted to see one of the ammunition magazines, which had a swastika etched on to its side.
We'll hear the outcome any minute now.
Judge Elizabeth Scherer has entered the courtroom and invited the jury back in to read their verdict.
Image source, Getty ImagesStudents gather for a candlelight vigil on 15 February, 2018, the day after the shooting.
As we continue to wait for the sentencing verdict, here's a reminder of the horror that unfolded in Parkland, Florida.
Seventeen people were killed - and another 17 wounded - during the 14 February 2018 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The attack began at 14:19 in the afternoon when the gunman - who had been expelled the previous year for disciplinary reasons - arrived on campus armed with a legally-purchased AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and shot dead 14 students and three staff members.
All the victims were shot within a four-minute time span.
The gunman managed to leave the school by blending in with students, and lingered in the area after reportedly buying a soft drink at a nearby mall.
Soon after, at about 15:40, he was arrested by police officers about two miles (3.2km) away from the school.
Sam Cabral
Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Image source, BBC NewsThe courtroom is more packed today than it was yesterday.
Victims’ families are seated together, some huddled in intense chatter. I’ve seen many of them hug and console each other as they speak.
The defendant has just entered the courtroom, dressed in a collared shirt and striped sweater, and is now sitting with his defence team.
Image source, BBC NewsThe verdict reached by the 12-member jury is about to be announced.
We'll bring you live updates as it is read to the court. You can also watch by clicking on the play button at the top of the page.
The imminent verdict will see a jury decide whether the gunman deserves life in prison or the death penalty.
But ever since the shooting five years ago, families have been wrestling with how to find justice for such a heinous act.
Parkland shooting: Families of victims wrestle with what justice means?
Sam Cabral
Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Victims’ families file into the courtroom to hear the verdict
It still feels like summer in Fort Lauderdale. The sun is out, the skies are clear and the temperature is just under 30C (86F).
Downtown, on the 17th floor of the Broward County Courthouse, those who lost loved ones at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School - some 30 miles (48km) north-west of here - are waiting to hear the gunman’s fate.
Will he get the death penalty or will he be sentenced to life in prison? Either way, the decision comes after more than three months of emotional - often harrowing - testimony.
The jury began its deliberations on Wednesday morning, in isolation and without mobile phone access.
We will hear the decision in about fifteen minutes.
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Washington
A total of 27 states still allow for the death penalty. Three of those states - California, Oregon and Pennsylvania - have called a moratorium on executions.
So far this year, 11 people have been executed across five states. The most recent execution saw a 38-year-old man put to death in Texas for a 2004 murder committed during a robbery that had netted him $1.25 (£1.12).
Florida’s most recent execution took place in 2019 when serial killer Gary Ray Bowles, 57, who had been found guilty of murdering six men in 1994, was put to death.
Image source, Getty ImagesA police checkpoint outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 15 February, 2018, a day after the shooting
The Parkland gunman pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
After the plea, the case headed to a penalty trial, in which jurors were tasked with determining whether he would be given the death penalty or receive life in prison without parole.
During the emotional trial, prosecutors sought to show that the shooting had been “cold, calculated and premeditated”. They argued that the gunman deserved to to be sentenced to death for the "goal-directed, planned, systematic murder - mass murder - of 14 students, an athletic director, a teacher and a coach".
Jurors were also shown gruesome video evidence from the crime scene, as well as video of the attacker calmly ordering a drink from a nearby shop minutes after the massacre.
At one point, jurors were taken to the preserved crime scene where school supplies and Valentine’s Day cards were still scattered.
The defence team sought to portray the admitted murderer as a deeply troubled young man whose brain was “irretrievably broken” due to a difficult childhood.
“We must understand the person behind the crime,” his lead lawyer, Melisa McNeil, told jurors.
All 12 jurors must vote unanimously in order for him to be put to death.
The jury - made up of seven men and five women - will soon announce whether the Parkland gunman will face the death penalty or life in prison.
Here’s what we know:
The jury is due to announce their decision at 10:30 local time (14:30 GMT).
We’ll bring you more updates shortly.