FUNERAL WAIL: ‘ MY KID IS DEAD’
Families & friends bare anguish & tears
The first two teens from the Florida school shooting were buried Friday — and parents of both kids raged over being powerless to save them.
“I wish I could have taken the bullets for you, Alyssa,” the mother of 14-year-old Alyssa Miriam Alhadeff said at her North Lauderdale funeral.
“I would have protected you,” said the mom, Lori.
“There’s a knife stabbed in my heart,” said the mom, who gained national attention a day earlier, when she made a plea to President Trump on live TV.
“Do something. Action,” she begged Trump.
“We need it now. These kids need safety now.”
Alyssa was a freshman honors student and soccer player at Mar- jory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Fla.
Born in Queens, she also lived with her family in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, from 2010 to 2014 before moving to Florida.
“I couldn’t protect you,” said her father, Dr. Ilan Alhadeff.
“But we are going to protect everyone going forward. We’ll do what we can. Alyssa, we love you so much,” he said.
Later Friday, at the funeral for Meadow Jade Pollack, 18, another parent cried out over failing to protect his “princess.”
“You. Killed. My. Kid,” the dad, Andrew, said in an angry eulogy, facing more than 1,000 mourners at a Parkside temple but speaking as if to accused gunman Nikolas Cruz, 19.
“‘ My kid is dead’ goes through my head all day and night,” Meadow’s father said.
“This is just unimaginable to think I will never see my princess again,” he said.
“This piece of s--t killed my kid and I couldn’t do anything about it,” he told mourners. Loud sobs erupted in the audience. “That’s never happened to me in my life. I am always able to protect my family in any situation.”
Meadow was the youngest of 10 grandchildren, and had been planning to attend Lynn University in nearby Boca Raton, family said.
“I always looked out for her,” said her older brother, Hunter. “I wanted to be the older, protective brother my whole life, and I feel like I failed.”
“So all I can do is hope that he gets what he deserves,” he added of Cruz. “Because I know me, my family and all my friends wish we could do whatever it takes to get a hold of this kid.”
Also Friday, it was revealed that another of the teens who died Wednesday, All-County swimteam member Nicholas Dworet, 17, had dreamed of swimming in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“He believed he could accomplish anything,” his family said Friday in a poignant Facebook posting. “As long as he tried his best.”