Parkland shooting survivor Samantha Fuentes celebrates "shrapnel-free" face
MIAMI -- Samantha Fuentes, one of the Parkland school shooting survivors who gave emotional speeches at the March for Our Lives in Washington, has something to celebrate: Three months after the attack, she says "My face is finally shrapnel free!"
Fuentes tweeted a photo of her face on Saturday, showing a wide smile despite bruises and a hospital bandage stretching from her ear to her mouth.
"Regardless of the fact I look like I lost a fight, inside I'm winning in a way. I've been struggling so hard to love my face again, thank you for all your support," she tweeted.
The speech Fuentes gave in Washington was memorable not only because she led the huge crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" for Nick Dworet, a classmate who was among the 17 people killed in the attack, and who would have turned 18 the day of the march. She also had to interrupt her speech to throw up behind the podium.
Fuentes is among the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who have made a point of reaching out to other young shooting survivors as they campaign for gun controls. She was honored with a Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN, the literary and human rights organization, for representing "an inclusive group of young people" in that effort.
"Fatal Mistake"
In February, Fuentes recalled the harrowing moments that led to her injuries.
"When I heard the shots firing, that's when I dove to the floor, bruised my eye and cut my forehead," Fuentes told CBS Miami more than a week after the school massacre.
"I heard two shots fired in the hallway. The first two shots everyone froze, everyone was under the impression it was drill and that's what we said to each other, and then the third shot was fired and that's when we knew it wasn't a drill," she explained.
Fuentes, a senior, was sitting directly in front of the door. She said she panicked and ran forward.
"That's when I realized I made a very fatal mistake because it was not the right place to hide during a shooting. You're supposed to hide behind the door so when the shooter looks in the room you become pretty much invisible so it looks like nobody is in the room but I ran forwards. That's when he shoved the barrel of his gun through the window of the door and started spraying pretty indiscriminately across the room."
She went on.
"Six of us hid behind the podium in just a small space and that is where Helena and Nick were sitting and were shot and killed right next to me. Everything that hit them ricocheted and hit my legs, into my face and into my arm."
