FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – “Shut it down!” A relative of 17-year-old Helena Ramsey shouted during the first day of the Parkland school shooting
State Attorney Mike Satz was playing a Snapchat video. The recorded sound of gunfire that was coming from Nikolas Cruz’s rifle echoed in the courtroom.
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Dylan Kraemer, a student who survived the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was on the stand.
“I looked over and two people were dead,” Kraemer said about what he witnessed when the shooting interrupted his history class In room 1214.
Nikolas Cruz’s defense told Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer it was “necessary” to declare a mistrial because what the jurors had witnessed was prejudicial.
“The Snapchat videos were at the highest volume possible,” Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill said.
Assistant State Attorney Carolyn McCann admitted the videos were loud. The judge quickly disagreed with McNeill.
Danielle Gilbert, another student who survived, said she was in classroom 1213 during the shooting.
“I took several videos,” Gilbert said.
The rapid war-zone-like gunfire and shouts for help prompted a woman to jump up from her seat in tears.
There will be more videos to come. Máximo Rosario, a former MSD assistant principal, said there were cameras with motion sensors inside the building.
Retired FBI Special Agent Carlos M. Castello said he retrieved the server with the recordings of the shooting and took them to the FBI Miami headquarters.
Gaston Nieves, a senior forensics examiner for the FBI, said he produced a compilation of the videos in evidence.
Nieves was the prosecution’s last witness of the day. Scherer said court was in recess until 9 a.m. She asked the jurors to arrive to the courthouse by 8:30 a.m.
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