Parkland parents ‘stunned,’ ‘touched’ by memorial plans

A $30 million, 7-story police training center will honor victims of mass shooting

FORT LAUDERDALE – The names of the dead are larger than life in an artist’s rendering of a two-story memorial for the victims of the Parkland mass shooting.

“I’m stunned, actually,” said Fred Guttenberg, of the planned tribute to his 14-year-old daughter Jaime and the 16 other students and staff who were fatally gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“This is unbelievable,” he said Friday, after seeing the pictures of the memorial for the first time.

The names of the victims are spelled out in large letters, vertically and horizontally, across large pink or gray panels. Jaime Guttenberg’s vertical name appears to rise 10 feet high.

Fred Guttenberg and Broward County School Board member Lori Alhadeff attended the groundbreaking Thursday for the Broward Sheriff’s training center that will feature this huge memorial in the lobby.

“I was very touched that they were going to add a memorial for the 17 [victims],” said Alhadeff. “For me, it’s really important that

Alyssa’s memory lives on and it will in this phenomenal training center.”

Her daughter Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, was among those killed on Feb. 14, 2018.

When the $30 million, 88,000 square foot, 7-story facility is complete, Sheriff Gregory Tony told the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony that the memorial will emphasize the importance of law enforcement training.

“We will have a memorial in the lobby to remind us every day we walk into training that

once upon a time we weren’t prepared,” Tony said. Guttenberg believes him. “Listen, Sheriff Tony came in and promised us that he was going to treat his job differently and never ever let this community forget,” he said. “I’m looking at this [memorial] and I’m thinking that’s a man of his word.”

No completion date has been announced for the training center’s construction, but the inclusion of the prominent memorial is what’s meaningful for Alhadeff.

“It’s very impactful for me and my family and we greatly appreciate it,” she said.

BROWARD SHERIFFS OFFICE Fred Guttenberg and Lori Alhadeff were at the groundbreaking for a Broward Sheriff ’s training center that will feature this two-story tribute to their slain children and other victims of the Parkland mass shooting.