Mom, son survived airport, school attacks

Tallahassee – Annika Dean was lucky to be alive, and now her son is too.

Dean was at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 6, 2017, when Esteban Santiago picked up his only baggage, a gun box, loaded the pistol inside it, and walked through the terminal, firing indiscriminately. He killed five people.

On Wednesday, Dean’s son, 14-year-old Austin Foote, was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people.

“I had just finished teaching my classes, I was looking at my phone and my son began texting me about what was happening at Stoneman Douglas,” said Dean, an art teacher at Indian Trace Elementary in Weston. “He said this is not a drill, this is actual, and my heart just sank. I knew what he was going through.”

Dean was standing in Terminal 2 when she heard the shots; with no exit in sight, she hit the floor. Within 30 seconds, she says, a stranger lay on top of her and said, “I will protect you.”

Foote was in biology class when the fire alarm went off, and he went out into the hall. The gunshots were rapid and close. He ran — past people running, crying, screaming — into the JROTC room. There, he and about 30 other students waited for the shots to end.

“I was grateful he was texting me,” Dean said. “It was difficult being in a room with a man shooting a gun, but having my son being there was much more terrifying for me.”

Dean has flown twice from the airport since the shooting. On her second trip, she hit the gym in her hotel only to see news of the massacre in Las Vegas. She had to leave.

Dean has noticed increased anxiety in other settings as well, though it only comes out every once in a while. As she participated in the candlelight vigil Thursday, she wondered whether someone would target it.

Foote’s best friend’s sister was shot; she’s in the hospital and stable. Two classmates that he’s known since second grade were killed. Dean said she is worried about what he’ll feel when there’s another shooting.

But just like his mom went back to the airport, Foote’s going back to his high school.

“It’s our neighborhood,” Dean said. “We love Stoneman Douglas.”

dsweeney@SunSentinel.com, 954-356-4605 or Twitter @Daniel_Sweeney