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People released doves, lit candles and shed tears Tuesday as the Parkland community commemorated the fifth anniversary of the murder of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and showed support for their families.
About 200 people gathered in a Coral Springs shopping center parking lot near the school in the afternoon for the first of two main ceremonies, with the second scheduled for nighttime. The center houses Eagles Nest, a community counseling center that opened shortly after the massacre, in which 17 others were wounded.
The families who were present took turns lighting candles encased in glass engraved with their loved ones’ names. There were also candles representing three students who were present during the shooting and have since died by suicide. The families then released 17 doves, which flew as a group in circles overhead. Neighbors hugged the families and asked how they were doing.
“It meant so much to us, to come together as a community,” said Mitch Dworet, who lost his 17-year-old son Nick in the shooting. “The love, support and kindness — it’s beautiful.”
The ceremony acknowledged the shooting at Michigan State University on Monday night that left three students dead and five wounded. That came nine months after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Overall, since Parkland there have been at least 11 shootings at U.S. schools were multiple victims died.
“My heart bleeds for them — I know what those (Michigan State) families are going to go through,” said Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex died at Stoneman Douglas.
