Special needs son of slain Parkland staffer delivers heartbreaking testimony
They were perhaps the three most heartbreaking words of testimony yet at the sentencing trial of Parkland killer Nikolas Cruz.
A Florida prosecutor on Thursday asked the shy special needs son of slain athletic director Chris Hixon if there was something he wanted to tell jurors about his father.
“Yeah,” Corey Hixon said nervously before looking to his mother, who joined him on the stand for support.
“I miss him.”
With those words, the shattered boy leaned into his mom for a hug and began to sob.
Asked if there was a special memory he held dear about his father, Hixon said it was a simple one.
“Every Saturday we ran to Dunkin’ Donuts and walked back,” he said, ending his brief but devastating turn on the stand.
The testimony left several of Cruz’s defense attorneys dabbing their eyes.
As he has frequently during the trial, Cruz put his head in his hands and looked down as the boy spoke.
Hixon, a military veteran, was remembered as a supportive and dedicated staffer at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School.
He was killed after confronting Cruz during the Feb. 14, 2018 rampage.
Prosecutors rested their case Thursday, hoping jurors will view Cruz’s murder of 17 people — 14 kids and three teachers — as warranting the death penalty rather than life in prison.
The case will adjourn for one week before the defense presents its case.
Cruz’s lawyers are expected to argue that his traumatic upbringing is a mitigating factor in the mass shooting and that a life term is appropriate.
