Kamala Harris tours blood-stained classroom at Florida high school where ... trends now
Kamala Harris came face to face with the grim aftermath of the notorious Parkland high school massacre on Saturday as parents showed her around the 'time capsule’ where their children were shot dead.
The school building in South Florida remains as it was on Valentines Day 2018 when former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, went on the rampage with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, killing 14 students and three staff members.
The vice-president looked close to tears as she walked past parents holding pictures of their dead children to deliver a speech promoting ‘red flag laws’ introduced in the aftermath of the massacre.
‘She understands how important gun violence prevention is for us,’ said Beigel Schulman whose 35-year-old son Scott was killed as he tried to shepherd students to safety from his Geography class.
‘But when you go into the actual building and see what actually happened, it doesn't matter that it is six years later, it really does something to you.’
Vice-President Kamala Harris walked past grieving parents holding photos of their children to deliver her speech at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
PARKLAND SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIMS: Top Row L-R: Jaime Guttenberg, Nicholas Dworet, Martin Duque, Meadow Pollack, Cara Loughran -- Second Row L-R: Alyssa Alhadeff, Luke Hoyer, Joaquin Oliver, Gina Montalto -- Third Row L-R: Alaina Petty, Carmen Schentrup, Peter Wang, Alex Schachter -- Fourth Row L-R: Helena Ramsey, Scott Beigel, Aaron Feis, Chris Hixon
Harris toured the untouched classrooms and visited a memorial to the victims
The young teacher’s papers remain on his desk at the boarded-up building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School which has been preserved for a series of criminal trials, including that of school’s sheriff deputy, Scot Peterson, who was acquitted last year on charges that he failed to tackle Cruz.
It is due to finally be demolished this summer but has become a classroom in the meantime for lawmakers studying how school buildings can be made safer.
‘The building is a time capsule,’ said Rep Jared Moskowitz who attended the school himself and has shown Congressional colleagues around.
‘They learn about the failures of the building, the failures of the response to the shooting by law enforcement, the failures in the training of the teachers, the failures of threat assessments of the shooter and the failure of all the warning signs.’
Cruz, who had recently been expelled from the school fired 140 shots as he prowled the school building during his six-minute attack.
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