February 14, 2018: A shooter opens fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburb of Parkland, Florida. There are 34 people hit, and 17 of them die.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student at the school, manages to escape by blending in with the students, but is arrested about an hour later. No motive has ever been publicly given. Various delays, including for COVID, pushed his trial back. On October 20, 2001, he pleaded guilty to all charges. He will be sentenced in April 2022: If all 12 jurors agree on the death penalty, he will be executed; if not, he will receive life in prison without chance of parole.
It is the deadliest high school shooting in American history, surpassing the Columbine High School Massacre outside Denver in 1999. However, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of 2012 remains the deadliest shooting at any American school, with 26 deaths.
The school was established in 1990, and named for Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998 -- yes, 108 years old), a former suffragette who went on to become a crusading journalist.
As usual, officials of the Republican Party, including President Donald Trump, and the Governor of the State in question, Ron DeSantis, did not a goddamned thing to prevent another such shooting. The Republicans have a few core issues: Low taxes on the rich, low wages for everybody else, racial bigotry, religious bigotry, hatred of people on the LGBT spectrum, hatred of women including trying to control their reproductive processes, and guns for everybody.
But the shooting made celebrities out of the students' spokespeople, Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, who have done their damnedest to move the cause of gun control forward.
UPDATE: On October 13, 2022, Nikolas Cruz was convicted on all counts, in spite of his lawyers' attempts to cite brain dysfunctions caused by fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. On November 2, he was sentenced to 34 life terms, with no chance for parole on any of them.
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February 14, 2018 was a Wednesday. It was the off-season for Major League Baseball and the NFL. These NBA games were played that day:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Washington Wizards, 118-113 at Madison Square Garden. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 37 points for the Knicks, but Bradley Beal scored 36 for the Wiz.
* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 108-103 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Miami Heat, 104-102 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Boston Celtics, 129-119 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-98 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls, 122-98 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Orlando Magic, 104-102 at the Amway Center in Orlando. (It's now named the Kia Center.)
* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 121-114 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 139-117 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Anthony Davis scored 42 points for the Pels.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings, 100-91 at the Toyota Center in Houston.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns, 107-97 at the Vivint Arena (now again named the Delta Center) in Salt Lake City.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 123-117 at the Moda Center in Portland. Kevin Durant scored 50 points for the defending (and soon to be a gain) NBA Champion Warriors, but Damian Lillard scored 44 to lead the Blazers to victory.
There were 3 NHL games played that night, none of them involving a team from the New York Tri-State Area:
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-3 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* And the Florida Panthers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
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