'I forgive him,' Parkland school shooting survivor says

Daniela Menescal shot in back, leg

PARKLAND, Fla. – A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who survived Wednesday's mass shooting told Local 10 News that "It's a miracle that I'm alive." 

Daniela Menescal said she thought it was all a drill until the moment bullet fragments slammed into her back and leg. 

"He broke the window in the door and he -- I guess he started shooting as he could," she said.

Inside her locked classroom, the 11th grade student said she and other students hid behind a metal cabinet as gunfire sprayed the room. 

"I saw the blood and then the girl who was in front of me, she turned around and I saw her -- she was hit in her face, and I guess a bullet was in her eye," Menescal said. 

Two students in her class didn't survive. She said she still doesn't know how some of the other students are doing. 

In the chaos after the shooting, Menescal and many others were rescued and loaded into emergency vehicles. 

Menescal eventually made it home, bandaged with metal from the bullets still inside of her. 

Despite what happened, Menescal said she still believes in forgiveness. 

"In the back of his mind, God is with him and I know that we all deserve a second chance, and that even for all that he caused, we forgive him. I forgive him," Menescal said. 


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