FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Defense attorneys for accused Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz plan to meet with prosecutors and offer a guilty plea in exchange for life in prison, Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said Friday.
"There is only one question: Should this young man live or should he die by execution?" he said. "We believe it's in nobody's best interest to go through a circus of a trial."
Though Broward County state prosecutors have not yet formally charged Cruz, the defense lawyers said they were certain that the Broward State Attorney's Office would seek the death penalty. In Florida, a 12-0 jury vote is required to sentence a convicted defendant to death.
Here are other developments:
_ Cruz was known to law enforcement: Cruz had been known to local authorities, including law enforcement and the school district, before the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to Broward Sheriff Scott Israel.
About 20 calls about Cruz came to the Broward Sheriff's Office over the past few years, Israel said at a news conference late Friday afternoon.
The sheriff provided no details on the calls, saying some of them may have resulted in the dispatch of a deputy, and others not. But he said the department will investigate what happened with them.
"Every one of these calls for service will be looked at and scrutinized," he said. "If we find out that one of our deputies or call takers could have done something better, or was remiss, I'll handle it accordingly."
When Cruz, who had been expelled from the school for disciplinary problems, came on campus Wednesday, Israel said, school security personnel tried to contact him.
Asked whether the shooter had targeted any particular people, the sheriff said, "We have no reason to believe that right now."
_ FBI fumbles warning: The FBI ignored a tip last month that Cruz was at risk of committing a school shooting and has opened an investigation into what went wrong, the agency said Friday.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review. Gov. Rick Scott called on FBI director Christopher Wray to resign.
The FBI said in a news release, "On January 5, 2018, a person close to Nikolas Cruz contacted the FBI's Public Access Line (PAL) tipline to report concerns about him. The caller provided information about Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting."
The FBI said "the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life. The information then should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami Field Office, where appropriate investigative steps would have been taken."
"We have determined that these protocols were not followed for the information received by the PAL on January 5," the FBI said. "The information was not provided to the Miami Field Office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time."
FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a statement that read: "I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened in this particular matter, as well as reviewing our processes for responding to information that we receive from the public. It's up to all Americans to be vigilant, and when members of the public contact us with concerns, we must act properly and quickly. We have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy."
Robert Lasky, special agent in charge of the Miami field office, said the tip never reached the Miami field office.
"On behalf of myself and over 1,000 employees of the Miami field office, we truly regret any additional pain that this has caused," he said. "The men and women who work in the Miami field office are part of this community. We walk the same streets, our children attend the same schools, to include Stoneman Douglas. We worship the same places. We are part of this community. As this community hurts, so do we."
_ School building to be demolished: The three-story freshman building that was the site of the massacre will be torn down, Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said Friday.
"Parents and students have resoundingly told me they can't go back into that building regardless of what we do," Runcie said. "The other piece I heard is that that building will be used as evidence in any type of legal process that goes forward, so we won't be able to access the building for a while anyway."
Runcie said the district also plans to erect a memorial around the site the current building. He said he plans to talk with legislative leaders Friday about possible funding for a replacement building. Runcie and School Board members Robin Bartleman and Donna Korn visited the building after it was cleared.
"The three of us just wanted to hold hands and say a prayer. Just looking at that building and talking about it now, I have goosebumps out to my head," Runcie said. "I don't know how teachers, students could get back in that building. I don't even know how we're going to open the whole campus, period."
_ Funerals: The first funerals of victims began Friday.
Alyssa Alhadeff was warmly remembered by her family, friends and the community. About 400 people attended her funeral and burial at Star of David Memorial Gardens Cemetery and Funeral Chapel in North Lauderdale. The 14-year-old Stoneman Douglas High School student was described as a go-getter and a great soccer player.
Family and friends remembered Meadow Jade Pollack as a princess whose smile lit up the room. They were angry with the cruelty of the 18-year-old's death that was no fairy-tale ending.
They gathered at Temple K'ol Tikvah in Parkland on Friday afternoon for her funeral. A committal service was to follow at the Garden of Aaron Star of David Memorial Gardens in North Lauderdale.
"You killed my kid," her father Andrew Pollack told the congregation at the funeral. "'My kid is dead' goes through my head all day and all night. I keep hearing it over and over."
The 17 victims ranged in age from 14 to 49. The others killed were Scott Beigel, 35, Coral Springs; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14, Parkland; Nicholas Dworet, 17, Coral Springs; Aaron Feis, 37, Coral Springs; Jamie Guttenberg, 14, Parkland; Chris Brent Hixon, 49, Hollywood; Luke Hoyer, 15, Parkland; Cara Loughran, 14, Coral Springs; Gina Montalto, 14, Parkland; Joaquin Oliver, 17, Coral Springs; Alaina Petty, 14, Parkland; Helena Ramsay, 17, Coral Springs; Alex Schachter, 14, Coral Springs; Carmen Marie Schentrup ,16, Parkland; and Peter Wang,15, Parkland.
_ Trump to visit: President Donald Trump said he would come to Florida on Friday, a trip he had scheduled to his home in Palm Beach prior to the school massacre. He has said he would visit Parkland and said he would meet with those involved in dealing with the shooting.
"I will be leaving for Florida today to meet with some of the bravest people on earth _ but people whose lives have been totally shattered," he said in a tweet Friday morning. "Am also working with Congress on many fronts."
In a televised address to the nation Thursday, he said he plans initiatives to address school safety and mental health but did not mention gun control. Many South Florida residents have criticized the president for inaction on guns, in wake of the massacre.
"Multiple of my classmates are dead," wrote Sarah Chadwick, a student at the school where the shooting happened, in a tweet that went viral Thursday. "Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won't fix this. But gun control will prevent it from happening again."
_ Miami Dolphins coaches, staff donate $17,500: Darren Rizzi, Miami Dolphins assistant coach/special teams, was acquainted with Douglas assistant football coach Aaron Feis, one of the victims. Feis has been credited with saving lives of students by pushing some to safety and shielding a ninth-grade girl before he was struck by bullets.
On Friday, Rizzi presented a check for $17,500 to the Feis family after organizing a collection among Dolphins coaches and other employees.
"As a coaching staff we got together on the morning after the tragedy and started talking about that we really wanted to do something for coach Feis and his family. Next thing you know we had close to 50 people that donated money," Rizzi said.
_ Airport shooting survivor experiences new nightmare: A woman who survived last year's mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale airport lived through a similar nightmare this week when her son went through the school shooting in Parkland.
Annika Dean was at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 6, 2017, when Esteban Santiago walked through a terminal firing a handgun, killing five people.
On Wednesday, Dean's son, 14-year-old Austin Foote, was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when the shooting started. He survived unhurt.
"I had just finished teaching my classes, I was looking at my phone and my son began texting me about what was happening at Stoneman Douglas," said Dean, an art teacher at Indian Trace Elementary in Weston. "He said this is not a drill, this is actual, and my heart just sank. I knew what he was going through.
"I was grateful he was texting me," Dean said. "It was difficult being in a room with a man shooting a gun, but having my son being there was much more terrifying for me."
_ Hospitals: Two more victims were released from the hospital, a spokeswoman for Broward Health said. Seven people remain at Broward Health North and Broward Health Medical Center, one in critical condition and six in fair condition.
_ Thousands attend vigil: Thousands of students, parents and neighbors gathered for a candlelight vigil Thursday night at Pine Trails Park in Parkland. Seventeen plastic angel statues lit the park's amphitheater, in place of the 17 people who died. Senior class president Julia Cordover's voice shook as she read off the names.
"This is our home and this is where we will not be intimidated by evil," she said. "We need to come together and be there for each other."
The murders especially hit home for the Stoneman Douglas High School Eagles Regiment marching band, which lost trombonist Alex Schachter and winter guard member Gina Montalto.
"I love you. That's No. 1," the school's band director Alex Kaminsky said as his students stood around him in a semicircle on the edge of the crowd. "We're here for each other."
Chicago Cubs star Anthony Rizzo, who previously attended the high school, spoke to the crowd.
"I'm only who I am because of this community," Rizzo said. "I want you to know that you're not alone in your grief. We're all grieving with you _ the entire country is grieving with you."
_ Cruz's mental health at issue: The suspect's defense attorneys say he shows signs of autism and appears to be suffering from mental illness.
"We have a strong belief that his mental illness will be a significant issue in the case and is a significant issue in how we got to this point," said Gordon Weekes, one of Broward's chief assistant public defenders and a member of the defense team.
Worsening Cruz's mental issues was the trauma last November of his adoptive mother's death, Weekes said.
"He was trying to get her to go get that illness checked out, but it moved very quickly and she passed away quite suddenly," he said. "He was just lost after that. He was sad, he was discouraged."
_ Suspect evaded school security: The accused killer evaded school security procedures by choosing the right time to arrive and by activating a fire alarm, according to school and law enforcement officials.
He showed up just before dismissal time, when gates have been unlocked to allow cars and buses to enter and leave. And he set off a fire alarm, which overrides the security system that would have otherwise locked doors automatically and required students to stay in classrooms.
"This particular individual came on to campus at the time of dismissal, and that is a very open time for campus," Superintendent Robert Runcie said.
