People released doves, lit candles and shed tears Tuesday as the Parkland community commemorated the fifth anniversary of the murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and showed support for their families.
About 200 people gathered in a Coral Springs shopping center parking lot near the school in the afternoon for the first of two main ceremonies, with the second scheduled for nighttime. The center houses Eagles Nest, a community counseling center that opened shortly after the massacre, in which 17 others were wounded.
“It meant so much to us, to come together as a community,” said Mitch Dworet, who lost his 17-year-old son Nick in the shooting. “The love, support and kindness — it’s beautiful.”
Dworet watched as 17 doves were released into the sky, one for each of the victims.
“Such a difficult day, this five-year journey we’re on, but the love and kindness and support of the community at this kind of event, being around everyone, you know, feeling that love is so important for us,” Dworet said.
“It’s a beautiful gesture, to have them released, to help us remember the victims, to remember their free spirits and again, the wonderful, vibrant people they were before this tragedy,” said Tony Montalto, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Gina in the shooting.
The ceremony acknowledged the shooting at Michigan State University on Monday night that left three students dead and five wounded. That came nine months after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Overall, since Parkland there have been at least 11 shootings at U.S. schools were multiple victims died.
“My heart bleeds for them — I know what those (Michigan State) families are going to go through,” said Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex died at Stoneman Douglas. “It is just horrible.”
President Joe Biden issued a video statement mourning the anniversary, saying that “to some of you, it seemed like yesterday,” and saluting the victims’ families and the survivors.
“What I admire most about you is how you found purpose through your pain. The world has already seen how strong you are, how resilient you are and how giving you are,” Biden said.
He then called for a ban on military-style semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 the Parkland shooter used.
“We must say enough is enough,” Biden said.
The National Rifle Association and other gun rights supporters have opposed such bans, saying they would only disarm law-abiding citizens and have no impact on violent crime.
Outside Stoneman Douglas on Tuesday morning at a small memorial garden, a young woman in a Harvard University sweatshirt sat alone on a bench, her knees held tight to her chest as she wiped away tears. All the 3,000 students who were on campus that day have graduated or otherwise left.
>> SOUTH FLORIDA IS MARKING A SOMBER MILESTONE, FIVE YEARS AFTER THE MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS SHOOTING. IT KILLED 17 PEOPLE AND WOUNDED OTHERS. >> JULIA BAGG IS LIVE THIS MORNING WITH HOW ONE FATHER IS TRYING TO COPE WITH THE LOSS OF HIS SON FIVE YEARS AGO. JULIA? >> Reporter: KRIS, CONSTANCE, EVERY DAY IS DIFFICULT FOR PARKLAND PARENTS. BUT FEBRUARY 14th IS SO PAINFUL, THAT SOME OF THEM DONu2019T WANT TO EVEN BE IN TOWN. EVEN BE IN TOWN. MAX SCHACHTER, LOST HIS SON, ALEX. HE USUALLY TAKES HIS FAMILY OUT OF TOWN FOR THIS DATE. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FIVE YEARS AFTER THIS TRAGEDY IS NOW THE KILLERu2019S TRIAL IS OVER. THE PAIN OF LOSING HIS SON, HIS ONLY SON, THAT NEVER GOES AWAY. >> ITu2019S HORRIBLE. >> ITu2019S HORRIBLE. EVERY DAY, I MISS ALEX. ITu2019S UPSETTING HEu2019S NOT HERE. ITu2019S HEARTBREAKING EVERY TIME I HEAR ABOUT ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING IN THE UNITED STATES. SO, ITu2019S REALLY HARD. YOU KNOW, WE TRY TO MOVE FORWARD EVERY DAY. EITHER FOR MY OTHER KIDS AND TRY TO HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT AND TRY TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN. THATu2019S MY MISSION IN LIFE. THATu2019S WHY I STARTED SAFE SCHOOLS FOR ALEX. >> Reporter: LATER THIS MORNING, LOCAL LEADERS WILL GATHER IN PARKLAND IN HONOR OF ALEX AND THE 16 OTHERS WHO DIED IN THAT DRAJ TRAGEDY. STAY WITH NBC 6, AS WE TRACK”,”video_id”:”2172153411808_251″,”video_length”:”120888″,”video_provider”:”mpx”,”short_video_excerpt”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_low”:”pDAwcwtHrGAW”,”pid_streaming_web_mobile_low”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_standard”:”qPvowfHNTMCu”,”pid_streaming_mobile_standard”:”_LbhkdDJLDeu”,”media_pid”:”M1GVjjiTg6ZY”,”alleypack_schedule_unpublish”:””,”feed_remote_id”:”mpx_2172153411808″,”feed_thumbnail_url”:””}” data-livestream=”false” data-title=”Parent Remembers Son Killed in Parkland School Shooting” data-vidcid=”1:10:2973218″ data-vidurl=”https://www.nbcmiami.com/on-air/as-seen-on/parent-remembers-son-killed-in-parkland-school-shooting/2973218/” data-islead=”false” data-catnames=”{“5856″:”On Air”,”5857″:”As Seen On”}” data-tagnames=”{“762874″:”parkland: 5 years later”}” data-customdata=”{“ContentPartner”:”None”,”Source”:”WEBFM”,”SyndicationAllowed”:”true”,”mSNVideoCategories”:”MSN Video v4 Connector-most watched news”,”mSNVideoContentSupplierID”:”NBC_Local”,”mSNVideoCountry”:”us”,”subtitle”:”nosubtitle”,”uploadedByTeam”:”1″,”youtubeChannel”:”None”,”sentiment”:”Positive”}” data-autoplay=”false” data-cplay=”true”>
About a dozen bouquets had been left around the garden, which is decorated with small hearts engraved with the victims’ names and stones with painted messages asking people to be kind, reminding them “it gets better” and “MSD Strong,” the community motto adopted after the shooting.
Also paying his respects at the memorial was Officer Mike Leonard of the neighboring Coconut Creek police department, who spotted and arrested the gunman about an hour after the shooting as he was walking through a nearby neighborhood.
“I think about it every day,” said Leonard, who became a school resource officer afterward. His K-9, a black lab named Taylor, is trained to sniff out hidden guns. “It reminds me how important it is to keep the schools safe.”
The now-unused three-story building where the shooting happened still looms over the Stoneman Douglas campus and the memorial, sealed off by a chain link fence and virtually untouched since. Inside there are still vestiges of the Valentine’s Day celebrations that ended with the gunfire — cards, withered flowers, deflated balloons.
The shooter, a then-19-year-old former student, received a life sentence in November after a jury voted 9-3 for death, short of the unanimity required. The Legislature will consider a bill this year to change that law, something the victims’ families are advocating.
>> AND HERE IN OUR COMMUNITY, IT IS A SOMBER DAY. IT IS A SOMBER DAY. TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR SCREEN AS WE REMEMBER THE 17 LIVES. IT HAS BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE THIS TRAGEDY HIT OUR COMMUNITY. THIS TRAGEDY HIT OUR COMMUNITY. 17 STUDENTS, STAFF AND FACULTY KILLED AT MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS HIGH SCHOOL. AND TO HONOR AN REMEMBER THE VIKES, BROWARD COUNTY SCHOOLS COMING TOGETHER AGAIN AS THEY HAVE SEVERAL YEARS HOSTING A DAY OF SERVICE AND LOVE AND A TIME TO TAKE PAUSE AND REMEMBER THE LIVES TAKEN TOO SOON AND THE VICTIMS THAT WERE INJURED OF THEM. 17 OF THEM. WE HAVE LIVE TEAM COVERAGE THROUGHOUT THE DAY. THROUGHOUT THE DAY. SEVERAL EVENTS HAPPENING ACROSS OUR COMMUNITY AS EVERYONE COMES TOGETHER. WE WANT TO BEGIN WITH ARI ODZER. YOU WERE ON CAMPUS THE DAY THAT THIS TRAGEDY HAPPENED, SO FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. YOUu2019RE NOW IN CORAL SPRINGS WHERE MANYONE OF MANY REMEMBRANC WILL BE HAPPENING TODAY. WILL BE HAPPENING TODAY. >> WEu2019RE AT EAGLES HAVEN WELLNESS CENTER. THIS IS A ONE-STOP COUNSELING THIS IS A ONE-STOP COUNSELING CENTER AFTER THE TRAGEDY. TODAY AT 12:30 THE 17 CANDLES TODAY AT 12:30 THE 17 CANDLES BEHIND ME WILL BE LIT AND DPOFS WILL BE RELEASED INTO THE SKY. THIS MORNING WE WERE AT SILVER LAKES MIDDLE SCHOOL, THE SUPERINTENDENT SPOKE AT A CEREMONY HONORING THE VIEBLGSCTI AND WEu2019RE ABOUT TO HEAR FROM HIM AND WEu2019RE ABOUT TO HEAR FROM HIM AND ALSO FROM LORI ALTA AND MONTALVO WHOSE DAUGHTER WAS KILLED ON THAT DAY. >> THIS IS INDEED A DIFFICULT DAY FOR ALL OF US. BUT WE JOIN TOGETHER DETERMINED TO SPREAD POSITIVITY, KINDNESS, TO SPREAD POSITIVITY, KINDNESS, LOVE, AS WE HONOR OUR FALLEN EAGLES. WE GET THROUGH THIS DAY BY OFFERING SUPPORT TO ONE ANOTHER, REFLECTING ON OUR FEELINGS, PROMOTING TOLERANCE AND HELPING OTHERS. >> SO THINKING OF ALYSSA, THAT SHE SHOULD BE IN COLLEGE. IT UPSETS ME SO MUCH. IT ANGERS ME ACTUALLY. AND THAT HER LIFE WAS SO AND THAT HER LIFE WAS SO TRAGICALLY TAKEN FROM HER. SHE WAS ONLY 14 YEARS OLD. SHE WAS ONLY 14 YEARS OLD. AND SHE HAD SUCH ZEST FOR LIFE. SHE WAS SUCH AN ALL-AMERICAN GIRL. AND THE FACT THAT I HAD TO DO VISIT VISIT HER IN THE GRAVE AT THE CEMETERY, IT IS SO PAINFUL. >> THERE IS NO HEALING THAT YOU COULD HAVE FOR LOSING YOUR COULD HAVE FOR LOSING YOUR CHILD, ESPECIALLY IN THE HORRIFIC WAY THAT GINA WAS TAKEN FROM US. FROM US. HOWEVER, WE HAVE FOUND SOME DAYS AND SOME WAYS TO WORK AROUND THAT HOLE IN OUR HEARTS. BUT WE WILL ALWAYS MISS GINAu2019S PRESENCE IN OUR FAMILY. >> Reporter: AS YOU COULD SEE, FIVE YEARS IS LIKE THE BLINK OF AN EYE FOR ANYBODY WHO LOST A AN EYE FOR ANYBODY WHO LOST A LOVED ONE IN THAT HORRIBLE DAY FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY. AND THAT SAYING TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS DOESNu2019T APPLY YET, IF IT WOUNDS DOESNu2019T APPLY YET, IF IT EVER WILL, TO THE PEOPLE WHO LOST LOVED ONES FIVE YEARS AGO IN THIS PART OF BROWARD COUNTY. SO ALSO, WE SHOULD REMEMBER THE PEOPLE WOULD SURVIVED. AND ARE SUFFERING EMOTIONAL TRAUMA. THIS IS A VERY DIFFICULT DAY FOR THOME AS WELL. MANY OF THEM ARE REGULARS HERE AT EAGLES HAVEN. AT EAGLES HAVEN. SO TODAY IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL IN THE EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL IN THE BROWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM HELD A MOMENT OF REMEMBRANCE, A MOMENT OF REFLECTION OR SILENCE FOR THE REST OF US. AND MY COLLEAGUE JULIA BAGG IS AT ONE OF THE SCHOOLS THAT TOOK PART. WHAT HAPPENED THERE? >> Reporter: YEAH, SO HERE IN SILVER SHORES ELEMENTARY, YOU COULD IMAGINE SOME KIDS ARE TOO COULD IMAGINE SOME KIDS ARE TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER OR EVEN TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED. BUT THEY CAME TOGETHER ON THIS BUT THEY CAME TOGETHER ON THIS FIELD WITH THE PURPOSE THAT AS THEY GROW OLDER, IT IS SOMETHING THAT THEYu2019LL NEVER FORGET. TAKING TO THE FIELD. STUDENTS OF SILVER SHORES ELEMENTARY TAKING THEIR PLACES TO FORM A MESSAGE OF LOVE AND SOLIDARITY. >> IT IS A BIG HEART WITH A 17 >> IT IS A BIG HEART WITH A 17 IN THE MIDDLE WITH ALL OF THE TEACHERS. >> Reporter: YOU COULD BETTER SEE WHAT HEu2019S TALKING ABOUT FROM THE AIR. THE HUMAN HEART MADE UP OF KIDS AND TEACHERS WITH OFFICERS AND OTHERS CREATING THE NUMBER 17 TO MARK THE LIVES LOST FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY. AGO TODAY. KIERAN AND HIS CLASSMATES PRACTICE THE FORMATION YESTERDAY PRACTICE THE FORMATION YESTERDAY AND HIS DAD JOINED HIM THIS MORNING. >> I CANu2019T IMAGINE LOSING A CHILD XD AND HONORING CHILDREN T HAVE BEEN LOST. >> AND THEY SHARED A POEM OF HOPE AND WISHING TO BRING COMFORT TO FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO DIED. >> I LOVE THAT WEu2019RE DOING THIS AND ABLE TO TAKE PART IN THIS. >> AT THIS TIME WE PAUSE TO >> AT THIS TIME WE PAUSE TO HONOR THOSE WE LOVE. >> Reporter: INSIDE OF CLASSROOMS, THE ENTIRE SCHOOL OBSERVED A MOMENT OF SILENCE. PRINCIPAL JONATHAN LEFT HOPES PRINCIPAL JONATHAN LEFT HOPES HIS STUDENTS WILL REFLECT ON THIS TRAGEDY BY SPREADING LOVE. THIS TRAGEDY BY SPREADING LOVE. >> I WANT THE KID TO KNOW THAT HOPE IS ALWAYS ALIVE. >> Reporter: KIERANu2019S DAD AGREES AND HEu2019S GRATEFUL. >> IT IS THANKFUL TO BE SAFE AT >> IT IS THANKFUL TO BE SAFE AT SCHOOL EVERY DAY. >> Reporter: CERTAINLY A REMINDER FOR PARENTS AND FAMILIES HERE AND EVERYWHERE. TO CHERISH ONE ANOTHER, ESPECIALLY THEIR CHILDREN.”,”video_id”:”2172242499737_615″,”video_length”:”341442″,”video_provider”:”mpx”,”short_video_excerpt”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_low”:”Jtas34aDUW1C”,”pid_streaming_web_mobile_low”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_standard”:”z3s4nJ1x6FzR”,”pid_streaming_mobile_standard”:”_yv5tZgIbhSo”,”media_pid”:”zccJEnGcLKm7″,”alleypack_schedule_unpublish”:””,”feed_remote_id”:”mpx_2172242499737″,”feed_thumbnail_url”:””}” data-livestream=”false” data-title=”Parkland School Shooting Victims Remembered Five Years Later” data-vidcid=”1:10:2973555″ data-vidurl=”https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/parkland-school-shooting-victims-remembered-five-years-later/2973555/” data-islead=”false” data-catnames=”{“5856″:”On Air”,”5857″:”As Seen On”,”445300″:”News”,”248″:”Local”}” data-tagnames=”{“206″:”Broward County”,”90″:”Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School”,”2131″:”Parkland”,”762874″:”parkland: 5 years later”}” data-customdata=”{“ContentPartner”:”None”,”Source”:”WEBFM”,”SyndicationAllowed”:”true”,”mSNVideoCategories”:”MSN Video v4 Connector-most watched news”,”mSNVideoContentSupplierID”:”NBC_Local”,”mSNVideoCountry”:”us”,”subtitle”:”nosubtitle”,”uploadedByTeam”:”1″,”youtubeChannel”:”None”,”sentiment”:”Positive”}” data-autoplay=”false” data-cplay=”true”>
“That was a bitter pill when that happened, and all I can say is we’re doing something about it,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
Jurors walked the building’s halls and classrooms during the death penalty trial, and it remains standing only because it may be visited again during the trial of the school’s then-campus sheriff’s deputy, who is charged with child neglect for failing to enter and confront the shooter.
The Broward County school district then plans to demolish it.
Montalto said he hopes the world will remember his daughter and the other victims not for how they died, but for the lives they lived and the promise they had.
“It is important to remember who they are and who they were before this tragedy,” he said, “and not stay so focused on the episode that took them from us.”
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