PARKLAND, Fla. — The Parkland community was preparing to mark the eighth anniversary of the shooting that killed 17 victims on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with a ceremony on Saturday at Pine Trails Park.
There were portraits of Alyssa Alhadeff, Scott Beigel, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Christopher Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, and Peter Wang.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Saturday to mark “one of the darkest days in our state’s history.”
There was also a growing memorial outside the high school, at 5901 Pine Island Road, that included a rainbow and stuffed animals.
PROMOTING ‘SERVICE AND LOVE’
On Friday, Broward County Public Schools students paused for a moment of silence at 10:17 a.m. and marked a Day of Service and Love.
Driftwood Elementary School students in Hollywood wore red and stood in a LOVE-shaped formation that filled a basketball court. Deerfield Beach Elementary School students signed pledges to be kind.
Ramblewood Elementary School students in Coral Springs donated non-perishable food and welcomed School Board member Lori Alhadeff and Superintendent Howard Hepburn.
“I know Alyssa is watching and looking down and so honored at what our students are doing for service and love,” Alhadeff said about her daughter, Alyssa, a 14-year-old freshman who was a midfielder and the captain of the Parkland Soccer Club’s travel team.
The shooting prompted Alhadeff to co-found Make Our Schools Safe, a nonprofit organization that advocates for a federal law mandating silent panic alarms for instant law enforcement contact during emergencies.
Debra Hixon, a teacher and widow, also serves as a School Board member. Her 49-year-old husband is remembered as the school’s athletic director and trained U.S. Navy reservist who ran toward the shooter to try to disarm him.
GRIEF AND ACTIVISM
Also on Friday, Fred Guttenberg, the grieving father who co-founded Orange Ribbons for Jaime, a nonprofit in memory of his 14-year-old daughter, advocated for Jaime’s Law to require background checks on buyers of ammunition.
“It’s the simplest, most sensible thing I can recommend after years and years and years of working on this,” Guttenberg said. “Why not extend background checks to ammunition?”
The tragedy also prompted the creation of Never Again MSD’s March For Our Lives, a student-led political action committee advocating for tighter gun control regulations.
Other nonprofits that have been active in the community include Change the Ref in memory of Oliver, 17; The Walk Up Foundation in memory of Petty, 14; Safe Schools for Alex in memory of Schachter, 14; Stand With Parkland; Eagles Haven; and Parkland Cares.
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
Also on Friday, Tony Montalto talked about a project to build a permanent memorial in Parkland. His daughter, Gina, was a 14-year-old freshman, a Girl Scout, a church volunteer, a soccer player, and a Color Guard member
“Their legacy should be the smiles and the laughter they left behind, not the tragic way they were taken from us,” Montalto, the vice-chair of the Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation, said.
The Parkland community set up a temporary memorial with lighting and a shrub garden for a public ceremony from 4 to 5 p.m. on Saturday at Pine Trails Park, at 10555 Trails End. Hundreds are expected to attend.
REMEMBERING THE 17
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