In clip, Biden comforts Parkland families in ’18

Video from event held just after shooting spreads on Twitter

Footage of Joe Biden comforting Parkland families after the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School started making rounds on Twitter on Wednesday.

The clip shows former Vice President Joe Biden with survivors and their families at an event held just after the shooting. In the clip, Biden shakes hands with Debra “Debbi” Hixon, who explains she’s the widow of Chris Hixon, the heroic coach who died trying to save students in the shooting.

After his exchange with Debbi Hixon, while Biden is walking away from the families, the Hixons’ son Corey runs after Biden for a hug. Biden immediately embraces him, kisses his forehead and thanks him for the hug, the clip shows.

Arun Chaudhary, a political operative and filmmaker, shared the clip on Twitter on Wednesday morning with a caption that

reads: “I’m one of those who frets that the election will be much closer than the polls indicate. That in a world where non-voters are never targeted by Dems, huge turnout could contain multitudes. So I’m dropping some old footage of Joe Biden here.”

He added: “I’m hoping you’ll share it. A campaign only has limited value in gathering votes. The case for a candidate is often made by a wide array of outside amateur and professional creators. So it’s good to sprinkle this stuff around.”

By Wednesday night, nearly 16,000 people had shared the tweet. Their sentiments about the clip seemed to be the same, that it was a tearjerker or that they felt it was important to have a president who is compassionate, such as Biden.

Former representative Gabby Giffords, who had hosted the event after the shooting, also joined in. She shared a political campaign ad from a nonprofit called Fellow Americans that used the clip.

“I’ll never forgot the comfort that @JoeBiden brought Corey after he lost his dad in the Parkland shooting,” Giffords wrote. “This powerful new ad from @ Your_Americans illustrates Joe’s character. He has the compassion and leadership to bring this country together.”

The ad also features a brief interview with Debbi Hixon, who is running for a seat on the Broward County School Board against Jeff Holness on Nov. 3.

“My husband, Corey’s dad, Chris Hixon was one of the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting,” she says in the ad before the clip plays.

“I don’t have it in me a lot of times to give him that comfort,” she says as she starts to tear up. “So it meant a lot for somebody else to give him... to take that time, and to care enough about him.”

She adds that her older son calls Biden ‘Uncle Joe.’

“He can be that person that can comfort our nation and bring us together,” she says.

MIKE STOCKER /SUN SENTINEL Debbi Hixon holds a painting of her husband Chris Hixon. The athletic director and wrestling coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High was killed in the Parkland school shooting.