Town hall told of long road ahead for shooting victims

Parents, students and teachers still dealing with the trauma of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings are going to need long-term treatment if they’re to have a chance at reclaiming normalcy.

That was the message members of the school community offered at a town hall held to solicit comments about distribution plans for donations to the Broward Education Foundation’s Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund.

Tuesday’s town hall was the third — and final — of three scheduled to discuss how the money should be distributed. As of Tuesday, more than 35,720 people had donated nearly $7.2 million.

In the darkened auditorium of the Coral Springs Center for the Arts, parents described children paralyzed by memories of hearing and smelling gunshots, seeing large amounts of blood, or fleeing the shooting scene by stepping over bodies of friends and classmates.

Several participants broke into tears. Few people raised specific issues with a distribution formula proposed by an 18-member steering committee appointed by the foundation.

Cheryl Krakow said her daughter was absent from school while undergoing “intensive PTSD therapy” after witnessing intense violence inside the building where the shootings occurred. She said she wanted to ensure resources will be available to help her daughter get treatment in the future. “I’m just hoping my daughter is going to be able to function like an adult, go away to college, and have as much support as possible,” she said.

During one dramatic moment, a participant asked whether the committee would be willing to accept accused killer Nikolas Cruz’s inheritance money, as Cruz told a judge this week he wanted done. That prompted a member of the audience to stand up and shout, “We don’t want blood money!” to the applause of other participants. Committee chairman George LeMieux said he didn’t think the committee would want to accept Cruz’s money.

Another young woman, who identified herself as a student, said she couldn’t see herself applying for a share of the fund. “I’m not OK. I’m never going to be OK. But I would feel guilty filling out that application [for a portion of the victims fund] if other people need it,” she said.

For more information, go to nationalcompassion fund.org.

rhurtibise@sun-sentinel .com, 954-356-4071, twitter: twitter.com/ronhurtibise