One year on, Florida remembers victims of Parkland school shooting
- Seventeen people were killed in mass shooting on Valentine’s Day a year ago
The city of Parkland, Florida came to a standstill on Thursday to remember the victims of a school shooting that took the lives of 17 people on Valentine’s Day one year ago, igniting a student crusade against gun violence.
Survivor Emma Gonzalez, who emerged as a leading activist after the massacre, said the gun control movement known as the March for Our Lives will go offline and silent from Thursday through the weekend.
“Like so many others in our community, I’m going to spend that time giving my attention to friends and family, and remembering those we lost,” Gonzalez wrote in a statement.
“The 14th is a hard day to look back on. But looking at the movement we’ve built – the movement you created and the things we’ve already accomplished together – is incredibly healing,” she wrote.
The massacre was carried out by a former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who walked in with a military-style rifle and killed 14 students and three staff members.