FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Parkland mass shooting survivor Anthony Borges has agreed to share the rights to the name of the man who tried to kill him, ending a legal standoff with other families shattered by the 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Borges, 21, announced through his lawyer earlier this year that he had secured exclusive rights to the name of Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 people at the Parkland high school on Valentine's Day 2018 and physically wounded another 17. Borges was the most seriously wounded survivor, taking five bullets to the lungs, abdomen and legs.
Dozens of plaintiffs sued Cruz, the Broward school district, the Sheriff's Office and the FBI for their failures to prevent the massacre, but only Borges and his lawyer, Alex Arreaza, worked out a one-on-one settlement with the gunman himself.
That agreement gave Borges the sole right to decide when Cruz can grant interviews telling his side of the story.
Under an agreement filed Monday, Borges is now sharing that right with the families of slain victims Meadow Pollack, Alaina Petty and Luke Hoyer along with survivor Maddy Wilford. Cruz is already barred from profiting off the crime under the state's "Son of Sam" law, but lawyers for the victims say the agreement adds an extra layer of protection blocking Cruz from presenting his story to the public in any sympathetic light.
Cruz is serving 34 consecutive life sentences for planning and carrying out the mass shooting.
Borges' agreement with Cruz, which also included a claim to the annuity left to the gunman when his mother passed away in late 2017, was the subject of a heated courtroom dispute on Sept. 5, with the other family members and victims calling it a "betrayal" of an agreement to give the proceeds of the annuity to charity.
Arreaza said Monday that his client's agreement with Cruz was never meant to harm other victims.
"This was always about one thing, which was to take any power away from the perpetrator of this crime," Arreaza said.
With the plaintiffs' differences settled, their attention can now turn to the Broward Sheriff's Office, the last public entity yet to reach a settlement to end the case, said David Brill, attorney for the other plaintiffs named in the agreement with Borges.
The parties are due back in court on Tuesday.