Parents begin grim task
Florida shooting victims now must be buried
PARKLAND, Fla. – Two days after a teenage gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school, mourners packed the Star of David chapel Friday as parents of the victims began the grim ritual of burying their children.
Friends and classmates who could not get inside through the throngs of mourners strained to hear the voices chanting Jewish prayers for Alyssa Alhadeff, 14. She was remembered as a star soccer player with “the strongest personality” and a creative writer with a memorable smile. Alyssa was one of 14 students gunned down in their classrooms. Three adults, including a beloved coach, Aaron Feis, who tried to shield students from the gunfire, were also killed.
The last of the bodies were removed from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday after authorities analyzed the crime scene.
Thirteen wounded survivors were still hospitalized, two in critical condition.
At least 1,000 people attended a candlelight vigil near the school Thursday night, some sobbing as the victims’ names were read aloud. At one point, people began chanting, “No more guns! No more guns!”
Some held flowers. Others held signs asking for action, including gun control, against school violence. “Kids don’t need guns. No guns under 21,” read one sign.
Alyssa’s mother, Lori Alhadeff, told CNNthat doing nothing in thewake of the massacre is not an option. “I have two other children, and they have to feel safe in their heart but we can’t let shooters just walk in that building,” she told CNN.
Nikolas Cruz, a 19- year- old former student who had been expelled last year, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder. Cruz, according to police, spent only seven minutes moving between three floors with his AR- 15 semiautomatic rifle and firing in classrooms.
According to a report fromthe Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Cruz confessed to investigators that he carried out one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings and carried extra ammunition in his backpack in hopes of adding to the carnage.
Catarina Linden, a 16- year- old sophomore, said she was in an advanced math class when the gunfire began.
“He shot the girl next to me,” she said, adding that when she finallywas able to leave the classroom, the air was foggy with gun smoke. “I stepped on so many shell casings. There were bodies on the ground, and there was blood everywhere.”
Cruz was being held under a suicide watch, Executive Chief Public Defender GordonWeekes told reporters.