Parkland massacre survivors and current FSU students react to recent mass shooting
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TALLAHASSEE, Florida (WPBF) — Some students who endured the emotional toll and grief following the Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School shooting massacre in Parkland are experiencing the worst kind of deja vu after Thursday’s shooting at Florida State University.
“It’s crazy. How is this happening again? It’s so surreal. And it will be something that’s etched forever here,” said Aiden Weinreich, an FSU student and MSD graduate.
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Weinreich said even though he wasn’t there on that Valentine’s Day in 2018 when a gunman killed 17 people and injured 18 others, it still affected him emotionally, and he’s now leaning on his fellow Parkland grads for support.
“I reached out to a couple I know here, and it’s just the same type of feeling,” Weinreich said. “It’s happening again. We came here for kind of a new start, and then it happens again.”
The violence is following and haunting more Stoneman Douglas grads hundreds of miles away from Parkland.
“Everyone I know is, like, terrified. No one wants to go back to school. It’s really a sad thing that because a lot of the people I’m friends with are from Parkland, and a lot of them go to FSU. And this is the second time it’s happened, and no one I know wants to go back to school,” said Robbie Alhadeff, an FSU student and brother of MSD victim Alyssa Alhadeff.
Alhadeff said he was walking to his apartment when he got the FSU shooting alert.
“It’s tough, honestly. Like, I really don’t even want to go back to class. But it was really hard the first time. I didn’t go back to school for at least two weeks. I was really close to my sister, and now there’s a second shooting. It’s like you go to school to learn, but you end up, you can end up being killed,” Alhadeff said.
FSU has cancelled classes and sporting events throughout the weekend.
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