Nikolas Cruz, the man who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, pleaded guilty in a Florida courtroom on Wednesday to 17 counts of murder and 17 accounts of attempted murder, the Associated Press reported.   

A Florida jury will decide if Cruz will get life in prison or the death penalty.   

Cruz apologized for his actions while the victims’ families watched the proceedings via Zoom, per AP.   

“I am very sorry for what I did, and I have to live with it every day. If I were to get a second chance, I would do everything in my power to try to help others,” Cruz said. “I have to live with this every day, and it brings me nightmares and I can’t live with myself sometimes, but I try to push through because I know that’s what you guys would want me to do.”  

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On Feb. 14, 2018, Cruz entered his former high school in Parkland, Florida, and opened fire, killing students and faculty. It is considered one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.   

A former Stoneman Dough student, Anthony Borges, who was shot five times by Cruz, said he accepted his apology, as reported by AP.   

“He made a decision to shoot the school,” Borges said. “I am not God to make the decision to kill him or not. That’s not my decision. My decision is to be a better person and to change the world for every kid. I don’t want this to happen to anybody again. It hurts. It hurts. It really hurts. So, I am just going to keep going. That’s it.”  

Not long after the shooting, survivors began mobilizing within the community and around the country, calling for elected officials to pass strict gun control legislation through the March for Our Lives movement.