Six years after a gunman killed 17 individuals at a Parkland, Fla., highschool in one of many deadliest college shootings in American historical past, the location of the assault is being torn down.
The demolition of the previous freshman constructing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty was scheduled to start on Friday and was anticipated to take a number of weeks to finish, Broward County college district officers mentioned in an announcement. Relatively than utilizing explosives, employees plan to tear down the three-story constructing piece by piece, officers mentioned, beginning with the highest flooring.
Officers had initially deliberate to start out taking down the constructing on Thursday, however flooding and extreme climate throughout South Florida delayed the beginning of labor.
Lori Alhadeff misplaced her 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, within the taking pictures. Her 17-year-old son now attends Stoneman Douglas Excessive, and Ms. Alhadeff says she has lengthy been able to see the previous freshman constructing come down.
“It’s necessary for that constructing to be taken down, so not solely can I begin to heal but in addition the group at giant,” mentioned Ms. Alhadeff, now chair of the Broward County Faculty Board. “That constructing is a reminder of the horrific tragedy the place 17 individuals have been murdered in class.”
The aim is for the demolition to be completed earlier than college begins in August, Ms. Alhadeff mentioned.
Fourteen college students and three school members have been killed, and 17 others have been wounded, within the rampage on Feb. 14, 2018, which shook the suburban group of Parkland and the nation. The 19-year-old gunman, Nikolas Cruz, pleaded responsible to 17 counts of homicide and 17 counts of tried homicide, and he was sentenced in 2022 to life in jail with out the potential for parole.
The taking pictures turned lots of the victims’ relations and classmates into activists. Mother and father based organizations to foyer for varsity security measures across the nation. Some college students on the college based March for Our Lives to advocate gun-control measures.
By way of all of it, the freshman constructing remained standing, fenced off from the remainder of the campus. The websites of college shootings are sometimes quickly demolished, or are cleaned and reopened, however the Stoneman Douglas Excessive constructing was preserved as against the law scene as a result of the gunman was placed on trial to find out his sentence — a rarity, since most college shooters don’t survive.
The constructing remained largely untouched for years, as legislation enforcement officers investigated, prosecutors constructed their case towards the gunman, and politicians visited the location. Blood stains and damaged glass stayed on the flooring. College students’ computer systems and sophistication work sat on desks. Flowers and balloons have been reminders that the rampage occurred on Valentine’s Day.
In 2022, jurors walked via the constructing as they ready to resolve what sentence to suggest for Mr. Cruz. The following yr, ballistics specialists re-enacted the bloodbath to assemble proof for potential use in a civil trial towards a former sheriff’s deputy who was accused by victims’ households of failing to guard college students and academics.
The deputy, Scot Peterson, was discovered not responsible of kid neglect and different prices in a separate felony trial.
Family members of the victims have been capable of go to the location, too. Max Schachter, who misplaced his 14-year-old son, Alex, within the assault, walked via the constructing for the primary time in 2023 and has been again quite a few instances since then. He mentioned he was glad the constructing was preserved, in order that as many officers as potential might see the devastation. Vice President Kamala Harris toured the constructing this yr, as did the training secretary, Miguel Cardona.
“I do know that lives have been saved and faculties have been safer due to the a whole bunch of officers that have been delivered to that constructing,” Mr. Schachter mentioned.
For Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gina, was killed within the taking pictures, the demolition of the constructing brings conflicting feelings. His son worries that the group will neglect what occurred; his spouse discovered that means in displaying officers the constructing and explaining to them what went flawed.
The couple has visited the location many instances. On their ultimate walk-through this spring, they noticed one thing they’d by no means seen earlier than in a Spanish classroom: a poster that Gina had made about her household, nonetheless taped to the bulletin board.
