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They held candles to remember the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas and pledged to do what they could to try and prevent another tragedy.
Rain occasionally poured down on the vigil at Betti Stradling Park in Coral Springs on Monday evening, with one rabbi saying, “God is crying with us.”
School Board member Robin Bartleman fought back tears as she told stories of teachers and staff members who kept students safe in their classrooms and saved lives. She said that earlier in the day she had attended the wake of student Carmen Schentrup, 16, the daughter of Pembroke Pines Elementary Principal April Schentrup.
“While April was taking care of other people’s kids, this tragedy was going on,” Bartleman said.
Earlier in the day, mourners packed the closed school campus to pay their respects. They put flowers, stuffed animals, candles and messages of “Never Again” alongside victim memorials shaped like crosses or the Star of David.
As the rain poured down, a rabbi mourned with the crowd for 17 students shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“God is crying with us,” she said.
Several hundred people held candles Monday evening to remember the victims and pledged to do what they could to prevent another tragedy.
Elected officials voiced grief and anger during the event, one of several statewide sponsored by the Florida PTA. They repeated the phrase “never again,” a rallying cry used by Stoneman Douglas students to demand stricter gun control measures.
“We need to take our grief, anger and sadness and channel that into action,” Coral Springs Commissioner Dan Daley said. “This was one of the worst mass shootings in our nation’s history, but we can make this the last mass shooting in our nation’s history.”
School Board member Robin Bartleman said she had hope that these students will be able to persuade lawmakers to make changes.
“Unfortunately, the adults who represent us on the state and national level have not gotten the job done,” she said. “But these students, they’re going to get it done.”
Bartleman fought tears as she told stories of teachers and staff who kept students safe in their classrooms and saved lives. Earlier in the day, she said, she had attended the wake of student Carmen Schentrup, 16, the daughter of Pembroke Pines Elementary Principal April Schentrup.
“While April was taking care of other people’s kids, this tragedy was going on,” Bartleman said.
Cindy Gerhardt, president of the Florida PTA, said she’s heartbroken when she thinks of how this affected students, teachers and parents at the school.
“We can’t imagine what it is like to send our babies off to school trusting they will be learning, laughing, dreaming and never see them again,” said Gerhardt, who traveled from Escambia County to attend the vigil. “We can’t imagine the fear felt when a teacher realizes that the commotion they are hearing is not a drill . ... We can’t imagine what happens to a student’s pulse when they realize those strange pops in the hallways are the sounds of gunfire.”
She said that “while our minds are struggling to find answers, our determination is stronger than ever” to prevent a similar tragedy.
Earlier in the day, mourners packed the closed school campus to pay their respects, while others attended protests calling for gun control.
People at the school put flowers, stuffed animals, candles and messages of “Never Again” alongside memorials shaped like crosses or the Star of David.
“I really wanted to see the memorial,” said Gabriel Ocejo, 17, a senior at the school. “When something like this happens, it unites the community.”