Grieving families remembered the 17 killed on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during two ceremonies on Saturday in Broward County.
The names of the victims were read aloud during both ceremonies to mark the eighth anniversary in the parking lot of the Eagles Haven Wellness Center in Coral Springs and later at Pine Trails Park in Parkland.
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.
The widow of Hixon, 49, the school’s athletic director and trained U.S. Navy reservist who ran toward the shooter to try to disarm him, was at the ceremony at 5655 Coral Ridge Drive in Coral Springs.
“We want you to remember who those 17 people were, why they were important, what they valued, and how they gave to their community … I think also moving forward, it’s important to have a national standard for what a safe school looks like,” Debra Hixon, a Broward County School Board member, said.
When a reader mentioned each victim’s name, a volunteer quickly lit up a candle next to each small, bright, and colorful photograph. Musicians performed, and mourners released a group of white doves.
At Pine Trails Park, at 10555 Trails End, in Parkland, there was lighting and a shrub garden surrounding a line of 17 large black-and-white portraits. The ceremony was from 4 to 5 p.m.
“Every year, you feel the same. I can’t imagine for the family, but they’ve all put their energy in whichever way makes them feel better. I respect them all so much,” Barbra Cantore, a Parkland resident, said at Pine Trails Park.
There was also a growing memorial outside the high school, at 5901 Pine Island Road, that included a rainbow and stuffed animals.
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.”
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.
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.
A PERMANENT MEMORIAL
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.
REMEMBERING THE 17
