Parkland Victims’ Families Reach $150 Million Settlement With Shooter

The families of three students killed in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting reached a $150 million settlement with the perpetrator of the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The parents of Luke Hoyer, Alaina Petty, and Meadow Pollack — who were all killed by Nikolas Cruz on Feb. 14, 2018 — all agreed to $50 million each as part of the settlement, while Maddy Wilford, a student who was wounded in the shooting, settled her lawsuit against Cruz for $40 million.

However, an attorney for the families acknowledged that they’re unlikely to receive any significant money as a result of the settlements. “The chief rationale for the judgment amounts is simply in the event that the killer ever comes into possession of money, we could execute on the judgments and obtain it, thus preventing him from buying any creature comforts,” attorney David Brill said (via the Associated Press).

Florida law already ensures that inmates cannot profit off of their crimes, and Cruz already previously agreed to hand over the rights to his name and likeness to former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Anthony Borges, the most seriously wounded of Cruz’s victims; as part of that agreement, Cruz cannot conduct any interviews without Borges’ permission.

Borges also has the right to a $400,000 annuity Cruz was set to receive prior to the Parkland shooting that killed 17 people; Brill is contesting that aspect of the agreement, arguing that the families he represents should also get a split of that annuity, which they would then donate to charity.

When Cruz was sentenced to 34 consecutive life sentences — but not the death penalty — in November 2022, the judge ordered that any money deposited into his commissary must also go towards restitution for his victims.