What happened in Parkland, Florida?

I was not at Stoneman Douglas when the shooting happened. I am a student at a neighboring private high school. However, numerous students st my school including me know a lot of people that attend Douglas. When we heard of the shooting, we immediate were all scared for lives of all at Douglas. It was a painful experience knowing what people were going through even though we were not directly affected. There has been strong solidarity at my school for Douglas.

Moreover, my school was temporarily on lockdown the day after the Douglas shooting because of a situation involving a possible shooter on our campus. I am in a state of shock, and I am still not sure what happened. There are a lot of police on the scene at my school, we still don't know a lot, but they were recommending all students to leave. The situation seems to be over for now, but we're not sure what happened - no one is injured, but it's just a lot to take - it's just a messed up world at the moment.

I have good friends that have best friends and family members who were slaughtered during the massacre at the neighboring Douglas school, and it pains me to think about what they are going through. The whole community around Douglas is really in shock and in pain right now. Even if we were not directly involved, it hurts us as we know Douglas students all too well.

At my school, we are showing solidarity by wearing Douglas school colors to school tomorrow and I and the school will be holding fundraisers to help those involved. I am personally in pain that I cannot do more to help.

It’s going to take a long time for the ashes of this horrific and absolutely tragic event to go away. All we really can do is pray and assist how we can to ensure the victims and families, and all those affected get the help and privacy they need.