Anthony Borges, who was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 when he was severely wounded by a rampaging gunman, has been given the rights to his attacker’s name as part of a stunning civil settlement, according to his lawyer.
It was Arreaza who coaxed Cruz, now 25 and serving 34 consecutive life sentences in a Florida prison, into handing over his rights to his name. He also convinced the gunman to agree to donate his brain for medical research after his death. Borges was not present at the Zoom meeting where the lawyer and Cruz hashed out the settlement. But his father, Royer Borges, was, and told thethat he felt “after what he took from my son, whatever he owns in this world, we should take it from him.”
Borges was 15 when Cruz shot him five times in the abdomen, lungs, and legs on Feb. 14, 2018 as he tried to shield his classmates. Hailed as a hero, Borges underwent more than a dozen operations and spent two months in a hospital, narrowly avoiding becoming the 18th victim of the massacre.