Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder.

In a decision that will split opinion, he was spared the death penalty at the end of a three-month trial.

The jurors did not unanimously find that the aggravating factors in the shooting outweighed the mitigating factors presented by the defense team, which is required for a death penalty sentence.

Per The New York Times, the mood in the Florida courtroom turned somber as the sentences were read aloud. Several jurors teared up, and the families of the victims were visibly horrified. "What is the death penalty for if not for the killing of 17 people?" Lori Alhadeff, mother of 14-year-old Alyssa, who was killed in the shooting, was quoted by ABC as saying.

Prosecutors had argued that the now-24-year-old carefully calculated plan to carry out the shooting, as well as its extraordinary cruelty, deserved the death penalty. The defense, on the other hand, called him "a brain damaged, broken, mentally ill person" whose upbringing and health issues played a big part in the tragedy.

Last year, Cruz pled guilty to the 17 first-degree murder and 17 attempted murder charges stemming from the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.

Formal sentencing has been scheduled for November 1.