Cruz sat silently as Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally handed down the life sentence. The 24-year-old will be transferred to federal prison, where he will remain until his death.
The formal sentencing came a day after family members of the victims had a chance to directly address Cruz in court, unleashing their grief and anger.
Many wished him a painful death and expressed hope that he would be raped or killed in prison.
“This creature has no redeemable value,” Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex was killed in the massacre, said Tuesday.
Addressing Cruz, Schachter said he hopes “other prisoners you will encounter in your new life will inflict that pain upon you, hopefully 17 times over again, until you are screaming for mercy, just like your victims.”
“We hope that you, the monster who did this to our son, endure a painful existence in your remaining days,” said Eric Wikander, the father of student Ben Wikander, who has undergone seven surgeries to repair his wounds.
“You stole him from us,” said Debra Hixon, whose husband, athletic director Chris Hixon, was killed in the massacre. “And you did not receive the justice that you deserved.”
“You are a hateful bigot,” Sam Fuentes, a student who survived the shooting, told Cruz in court Wednesday. “You shot me in the leg. And if you looked me in the face, like I am looking at you now, you would see the scars from the hot shrapnel that was lodged into it.
“You will not forget me,” she added.
The two-day hearing capped a three-month sentencing trial that featured emotional testimony, graphic video and a tour of the crime scene at the school’s freshman building, which has been closed since the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre.