Students in emotional return to shooting-hit high school
Students walk to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as they attend classes for the first time since the shooting that killed 17 people on February 14 at the school on February 28, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Police arrested 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz for the 17 murders.
With tears, fears and defiance, students made an emotional return yesterday to their Florida high school where a former classmate went on a shooting rampage two weeks ago, killing 17 people.
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were greeted by heavy security and scores of well-wishers as they returned to classes.
Dozens of police officers lined the sidewalks saying “Good morning” to each student and former students, neighbors and their children turned out to show their support.
Two women handed out free water and fruit for breakfast. Retired police officers passed out flowers.
People held banners reading “We Love You,” “You’ve Got This” and “We Are With You.”
“I’m not scared,” said 16-yearlold Sean Cummings. “I feel like it’s more protected than any other school at this point.”
“But it’s still weird to see everybody here and all these police officers,” Cummings said. “It’s going to be nice to see all my teachers again.”
Carly Novell, another Stoneman Douglas student, admitted that she was “nervous.”
“I’m really scared to go in,” said Novell, who like many other returning students was wearing a maroon T-shirt, the school colors.
Lauren Hogg, a freshman, said the experience was “surreal.”
“To be quite frank, I’m scared,” she told CNN, expressing fear of “going back into my classes and seeing empty chairs where my friends once sat.”
On Valentine’s Day, 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz entered the school and opened fire with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, killing 14 students and three staff members.
Since the shooting, Stoneman Douglas students have been lobbying politicians for stricter gun controls both in their home state of Florida and in Washington.
Republican lawmakers have been cool on bringing in major reforms on the sales of firearms. Pressure however is growing on businesses.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, a large chain store, announced yesterday that it would immediately stop selling assault-style rifles and would not sell guns to anyone under the age of 21.
Dick’s CEO Edward Stack said Cruz had purchased a shotgun at one of his stores in November and although it wasn’t the gun used in the shooting the chain would no longer sell semi-automatic weapons.
“Our view was if the kids can be brave enough to organize like this, we can be brave enough to take them out of here,” Stack said.
Speaking on CNN, Broward County school superintendent Robert Runcie said grief counselors were on hand for the day. “We’re going to provide as much support as we can,” he said.
