Parkland school building demolished 6 years after massacre

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 3 minutes read

The 4,000-foot Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building in Parkland, Florida, has been a lingering memory of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history for more than six years.

The building had remained untouched since 2018, when a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members on Valentine's Day. But after being preserved as evidence for the shooter's trial, crews are expected to tear the three-story building into pieces starting Friday.

Demolition was scheduled to begin Thursday morning but was postponed due to heavy rain and flooding. The building, which people who visited it described as a time capsule with bullet holes and bloodstains still visible, was closed after the shooting and fenced off as evidence at the crime scene.

Authorities said the demolition is expected to take several weeks. School officials have not yet announced what the building will be replaced with, but students, teachers and families have suggested a permanent memorial be established.

The victims' families were invited to watch the demolition, authorities said. They were given a designated observation area on school grounds.

“Demolition of the building where my daughter Gina and so many others lost their lives is a necessary part of moving forward,” Tony Montalto, president of Stand with Parkland, said in a statement to USA TODAY. “The demolition of the 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will not erase the fact that the worst high school shooting in American history occurred here. Seventeen beautiful lives were tragically lost because a multitude of simple safety procedures in the school were not prioritized.”

Other schools have closed and demolished buildings after mass shootings. After the 2012 shooting, the former Sandy Hook Elementary School was demolished and reopened in 2016. Officials announced in 2022 that they planned to demolish Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

6 years after the Parkland shooting:A school librarian works hard to make her space the safest

Aftermath of the Parkland High School shooting

Despite calls to tear down the old freshmen building after the shooting, authorities ordered it to remain in place until the shooter's trial concludes in 2022.

Prosecutors asked jurors to take a rare tour of the crime scene. They saw bloodstains on the floor, bullet holes in the walls, fragments of glass from broken windows, and student papers and Valentine's Day gifts left behind in the chaos.

The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2022. He had been charged with 17 counts of murder.

Family members of the victims were angered and disgusted by the jury's decision. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, but a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count under Florida law, the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Network, reported at the time TODAY.

The building was also used in a re-enactment of last August's shooting as part of a civil trial against former Broward County school resource officer Scot Peterson, who is accused of failing to protect students. Ballistics experts used an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle identical to the one used by Cruz.

The lawsuit, filed by some of the victims' families, claimed that Peterson neglected his duty by failing to enter the building and make contact with the shooter. Peterson said he stayed outside because he was unable to determine where the gunshots were coming from.

In a separate criminal case in June 2023, Peterson was acquitted of 11 counts of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.

“Create a space that honors their heritage”

The Parkland shooting sparked a broad movement for gun control legislation and public safety reform. Following the tragedy, the student organization March for Our Lives was formed.

The March for Our Lives was founded by teenagers who survived the shootings and since then, hundreds of protests linked to the organization have taken place across the country. In 2018, more than a million people gathered in Washington, DC. Thousands of people also gathered in 2022 to advocate for tighter control of gun laws after other mass shootings.

Lina Portman

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