Parkland families walk through 1200 building of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High for final time
FORT LAUDERDALE — Parkland families are walking through the 1200 building of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for the final time Saturday before it is demolished.
They invited people from across the country to join them to learn from the mistakes that happened on that horrific day. People from 25 states, including school board members, superintendents and national PTA members, flew in to see what steps they can take to make their schools safer.
Max Schachter organized it to make sure what happened to his son, Alex, doesn't happen to another student.
"Even though our loved ones died in this building, I believe that everyone that walked through this building is going to go home to their community and make their school safer," he said.
Alex was just 14 years old when a gunman walked into the 1200 building of MSD in 2018 and killed 17 people.
"Alex was a freshman in high school and he was in the marching band, and Alex played the trombone," Max said. "Miss Alex every day,, and I love him, and I do all of this to keep his memory alive."
The building is now frozen in time. Bullets, shattered glass, blood — it's almost all still there.
"It's very difficult for our families to have to walk through that building, but we do it because we know that lessons can be learned from the failures that occurred here that day," Tony Montalto said. "Everything from the need to strengthen the doors so they can't be shot through, to have the doors lock on the proper side so that the teachers, some of which died, some of which were shot, trying to lock their door on the wrong side."
Tony Montalto's daughter, Gina, died in the hallway.
"She was our firstborn," he said. "She was a loving daughter. She was a caring big sister."
This will be their last time walking through the building before it is demolished.
"It's where 17 people were brutally murdered, and the building has to come down," Lori Alhadeff said. "It needs to happen because there would never be education going on in that building."
Lori Alhadeff would have been happy to never have to walk through the building where her daughter Alyssa was killed, but she understands why it must happen.
"This was our opportunity to be able to allow people that are elected officials, school board members, superintendents of schools from around the country to come and to see the horrific things that happened on February 14, but we want them to learn from our tragedy," she said. "We want to learn them to learn from the mistakes that happened that day so that these things never happen again."
Debbie Hixon, who is the wife of Chris Hixon -- the PE coach who died saving his students -- said she believes the biggest thing people walked away with today is the need for threat assessment.
To be proactive instead of reactive.
