Nikolas Cruz apologizes for the Parkland massacre: "It gives me nightmares." Now he wants the relatives to decide if he is executed

Nikolas Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the 2018 massacre at the Parkland, Florida high school, and apologized to the families of the 17 fatalities during a court appearance with which he hopes to avoid the penalty of death if convicted by a jury.

"I am very sorry for what I did, I will have to live with it every day," he said at a hearing in front of numerous relatives of the deceased.

"It gives me nightmares and sometimes I can't live with myself," he added with his head down and his voice cracking.

The perpetrator of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, Nikolas Cruz, during a hearing on October 15, 2021. Amy Beth Bennett / AP

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in court to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the first degree in the February 14, 2018 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School, located near Fort Lauderdale.

That day, 14 students and three members of the school staff were killed in a shooting that lasted for seven minutes.

Investigators claim he used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

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Oct. 15, 202102: 26

Cruz had been expelled from the school a year earlier for his threatening, frightening, unusual, and sometimes violent behavior.

"I would like to be given the opportunity to help others," he said during his brief statement on Wednesday.

"I think it is your decision if I live or die," he said, referring to the fact that he would like the victims and their families to determine their future, rather than a jury.

[Three years after the Parkland massacre, the trial remains in limbo as Biden asks to reinforce the

Florida law states that Cruz will now face a criminal trial and that a 12-person jury will determine whether he is sentenced to death or life imprisonment without the possibility of appeal.

The judge, Elizabeth Scherer, plans to start the selection of jurors in January to begin judicial proceedings.