PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — A large excavator reaches the top of a three-story building, 17 people The fatal gunman killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Friday drilled the first hole in the classroom where teacher Scott Beigel lost his life trying to save his students.
The weeks-long demolition began. Excavators creaked and twisted as they chipped away at the building’s concrete, no longer needed as evidence in the shooter’s trial. Some of the victims’ family members stood 100 yards (90 meters) away, holding up their cellphones to record the moment.
His mother, Linda Begel Shulman, wasn’t among them. She was at home in New York. She toured the school last year and saw the comparative religion paper he was grading still on his desk when the Valentine’s Day shooting began. Ms. Begel, who also coached cross-country, stepped out into the hallway and urged students to retreat to her classroom as the gunman approached, staying there until she was shot.
She would be happy to see the building collapse, but she didn’t want to witness it.
“It was a happy place for Scott. He loved teaching there. He loved the kids and he loved everything about the school there. He loved coaching,” Beigel-Schulman told The Associated Press. “And to me it’s probably the saddest place. He thrived there and then he died there.”
Families of victims were asked to take hammers to chip away parts of the building before demolition began, as was Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed, doing so as a form of catharsis.
“Hammering the building took some of the pain away,” said Alhadeff, who after his daughter’s death was elected to the Broward County school board, where he currently serves as chairman, on a platform of improving school safety.
Authorities plan to complete the demolition and cleanup before the school’s 3,300 students return from summer vacation in August. No bombings were carried out to protect the school’s other buildings. Most of the current students were elementary school students when the shooting occurred.
Since the shooting, the building overlooking the campus has been closed off with a screen fence blocking off the bottom floor. It will be left open to be presented as evidence at the gunman’s trial in 2022. Jurors have toured hallways marked with bullet holes and blood stains, but Death sentenceHe is serving a life sentence.
Over the past year, some of the victims’ families Vice President Kamala Harris, Member of ParliamentFBI Director Christopher Wray, school officials, police officers, and guests from around the country were given tours of the building, primarily to demonstrate how security improvements such as bulletproof glass in door windows, improved alarm systems, and doors that can be locked from the inside could have saved lives.
Those who took the tour described it as a heartbreaking experience, like a time capsule. February 14, 2018. Textbooks and laptops Open Valentine’s Day flowers, wilted balloons and discarded teddy bears were scattered among the broken glass on desks – all items were removed before demolition began.
Max Schachter, who lost his 14-year-old son, Alex, said Friday that the tour he helped organize will save lives by using what he learns to strengthen schools in his district.
“We can’t teach dead children, so school safety has to be our number one priority,” he said.
The start of demolition work About 20 spectators gathered just outside the campus, including Dylan Persaud, a student in the class of 2018 who was near the building when the shooting began and lost seven longtime friends, as well as his classmate Beigel. Persaud celebrated watching the building collapse.
“This case should be over now. There should be a nice memorial there for the 17 people,” Persaud said.
Joan Wallace, a former special needs teacher at the school, had mixed emotions as she watched the building be demolished, saying she thought the tour was informative but also knows the building’s existence brings painful memories for the victims’ families.
“I hope this brings some peace and security to the families,” said Wallace, who was helping students wait for their parents in the parking lot at the end of the school day when the shooting began.
Broward County isn’t the only county to have schools removed after mass shootings. In Connecticut, Sandy Hook Elementary School After the 2012 shooting, it was demolished and replaced with a new building. In Texas, authorities Robb Elementary School It was built in Uvalde and plans are afoot to demolish it after the 2022 shooting in Colorado. Columbine High School After the 1999 shooting, the library was demolished.
The Broward County School Board has not yet decided what to replace the building with. Teachers have suggested connecting practice fields for groups like band and Junior ROTC with a landscaped path to a nearby memorial that was erected several years ago. Some of the students who died were in band and Junior ROTC.
Alhadeff said the district will put things there that will be useful to future students, a sentiment echoed by Schachter and Beigel-Shulman.
“I want a place where my kids can go and be happy, not a place where they can go and remember and be sad,” Beigel-Shulman said. “No one can forget what happened in that building. It can’t be erased, but it can be replaced with something good.”
