Broward Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Richard Van Der Eames describes the scene he encountered at the school after the mass shooting while testifying during the penalty phase trial of Marjory Stoneman High School shooter Douglas Nikolas Cruz, Friday, July 22, in court at Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Mike Stocker, South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Approximate reading time: 5-6 minutes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Few Americans outside of law enforcement and government have ever seen the most disturbing videos or photos of the nation’s worst mass shootings – in most states, such evidence is shown only at trial, and most such killers die during or right after your attacks. They never make it to court.
That made the criminal trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz for his 2018 killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland unusual.
As the worst mass shooting in the U.S. to go to trial, surveillance footage captured during his attack and crime scene and autopsy photos showing his horrific aftermath were viewed by jurors on shielded video screens and after every day court session are shown to a small group of journalists. But they are not shown to the gallery where parents and spouses sit, or to the general public watching on television.
Some online believe that needs to change — that in order to have an informed debate about gun violence, the public needs to see mass shooters like Cruz, often with high-velocity bullets fired from AR-15 semi-automatic rifles and similar weapons.
Others disagree. They say the public display of such videos and photos would add to the damage victims’ families are already suffering and could trick some who are mentally ill into carrying out their own mass shooting. They believe that such evidence should remain sealed.
Liz Dunning, vice president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, doesn’t believe the release of such videos and photos would have the political impact some believe. Polls show most Americans now support stricter background checks for gun buyers and bans or restrictions on AR-15s and similar weapons, said Dunning, whose mother was killed by a gunman.
“Public perception is not the problem,” Dunning said. “We must demand more from the powerful.”
Because most of the worst mass shooters in the U.S. were killed by themselves or the police during or immediately after their attack, it is rare for anyone outside the government to see such surveillance video or police and autopsy photos. The public did not see such evidence after the Las Vegas shooting in 2017, Orlando in 2016, Sandy Hook in 2012, Virginia Tech in 2007, and others.
Medical Examiner Dr. Wendolin Snead describes the wounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School victims as he testifies in the penalty phase of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Monday, July 25 (Photo : Carline Jean, South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
But Cruz, 23, fled after the shooting and was arrested an hour later. In October, he pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder — his trial remains only to determine whether he will be sentenced to death or life without parole. The videos and photos are part of the prosecution’s case.
Since the trial began on July 18, everyone in the courtroom and watching on television has seen and heard heartbreaking testimony from teachers and students who saw others die. They heard the gunshots and screams as jurors watched cell phone videos.
But when graphic videos and photos are presented, they are not displayed. Usually, they only hear medical examiners and police officers give callous descriptions of what the jury sees.
Then, at the end of each day, a group of reporters review the photos and videos, but are only allowed to write descriptions. This was a compromise as some parents feared that pictures of their dead children would be published online and did not want access to the media.
Miami media attorney Thomas Julien said in pre-Internet Florida, any photos or other evidence presented at trial could be viewed and copied by anyone. The newspapers didn’t print the most gruesome pictures, so no one cared.
But in the mid-1990s, when the Internet was booming, Dannii Rowling faced a death-penalty trial for the serial murders of four University of Florida students and a community college student. The families of the victims claim that releasing crime scene photos will cause them emotional harm. The judge ruled that anyone can view the photos, but no one can copy them. Such compromises have since become standard in Florida’s high-profile murder trials.
The surveillance video of the Stoneman Douglas shooting is silent. It shows Cruz methodically moving from floor to floor in a three-story classroom, shooting down hallways and into classrooms. Victims fall. Cruz often stops and shoots them again before continuing.
Crime scene photos show the dead where they fell, sometimes on top of each other or next to each other, often in contorted shapes. Blood and sometimes brain matter are splattered on the floors and walls.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is led into the courtroom during the penalty phase of his trial in Broward County District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Monday, July 25. (Photo: Carline Jean, South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Autopsy photos show the damage done by Cruz and his bullets. Some victims have massive head wounds. One student’s elbow was blown off, another’s shoulder was shattered. Another had most of her forearm torn off.
Yet despite their gruesomeness, Columbia University journalism professor Bruce Shapiro says most autopsy and crime scene photos won’t have a lasting public impact because they lack context.
Photos and videos that have a strong effect on public opinion tell a story, said Shapiro, who heads the university’s think tank on how journalists should cover violence.
The photos of the battered body of Emmett Till lying in his casket after the black teenager was tortured and killed by white supremacists in Mississippi in 1955. Mary Ann Vecchio screams over the body of Kent State student Jeffrey Miller after he was shot by National Guard troops in 1970. Vietnamese child Phan Thi Kim Phuc runs naked after being burned by a napalm bomb in 1972. The video of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck as he died in 2020 .
“They work not just because they’re graphic, but because they’re powerful, moving images,” Shapiro said.
And even if the graphic photos and videos were published, most major newspapers, TV stations and TV stations would be hesitant to use them. Their editors weigh whether the public benefit of viewing an image outweighs any beneficial interest—and usually pass.
This will leave most to only the most obscene websites. They would also become fodder for potential mass shooters, who often research past killers. Cruz did it; testimony showed that he spent the seven months before his attack conducting hundreds of computer searches to carry out the massacres.
“Images of carnage will become part of their dark fantasy life,” Shapiro said.
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