Parkland School Shooter Who Killed 17 Victims Cries After Court Takes Away Colored Pencils

The alleged Parkland school shooter, who is suspected of murdering 17 people in his school, was in a contentious spot in court on Wednesday after his defense attorneys attempted to console his weeping by giving him colored pencils and a drawing book.

Nikolas Cruz, the 23-year-old alleged shooter of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, was in the preliminary jury selection for the charge of attacking a jail guard when a woman in the jury started crying at the sight of him, according to the Miami Herald.

He became visibly upset, and his defense attorney attempted to make him feel better by giving him colored pencils and a coloring book page containing Pikachu from the "Pokemon" franchise. The prosecutors, however, objected to this scene, according to the New York Post.

“We’re objecting to that, your honor. We believe that that is something that they’re doing so that the jury perceives that you know, he’s a child that he has some kind of his mentality is somehow challenged, we think that’s inappropriate and we object,” prosecutor Maria Schneider said.

Gabe Ermine, Cruz’s defense attorney on the case, said that it was not their intention to make him sympathetic, but only to calm him down during the duration of the jury selection.

The judge presiding the case ruled against this, and the colored pencils and paper were taken away from Cruz, who sobbed again before appearing to compose himself for the jury selection.

Over 100 jurors said that they were fit to judge Cruz fairly on the case of attacking a prison guard. Some, however, had significant emotions against Cruz due to his involvement in the Stoneman Douglas massacre, according to Local 10.

“My best friend’s sister lives in Parkland and one of my church members was killed in the Parkland shooting, so I can’t,” one of the potential jurors of the case said.

Cruz could receive a 15-year sentence for the attempted battery of a law enforcement officer. The prosecutor is arguing that, if Cruz is found guilty of this case, it provides a possible tipping point to a verdict in his other case that will allow him to receive the death penalty.

He is still currently on trial for first-degree murder. Cruz’s lawyers have attempted to negotiate a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence without parole, but prosecutors are adamant about pursuing the death penalty.