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Florida Shooting Survivor Calls for Action: ‘We’re Children. You Guys Are the Adults.’ Florida Shooting Survivor: ‘We’re Children. You Guys Are the Adults.’
(35 minutes later)
A senior at the Florida high school where 17 people died in a shooting on Wednesday implored lawmakers to act to prevent future violence, calling the frequency of school shootings in America “unacceptable.” PARKLAND, Fla. — David Hogg stood in the Florida sun on Thursday, not far from his now shuttered school, and described the events of the day before.
“Ideas are great, ideas are wonderful and they help you get re-elected and everything, but what’s more important is actual action,” the student, David Hogg, said during an appearance on CNN on Thursday. Mr. Hogg, 17, a lanky senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the student news director there, was in his environmental science class when a single shot rang out, echoing down the hallways.
Mr. Hogg said that he was in an Advanced Placement environmental science class at the school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when students in the classroom heard a gunshot and alerted a teacher, who closed the door. Soon after, he said, a fire alarm began sounding and the students evacuated the classroom. His teacher pulled the door shut, but soon the fire alarm began to blare. Then, he said, came the sound of thousands of student footsteps, and Mr. Hogg and his classmates raced out the door, joining a giant wave of teenagers.
Outside, Mr. Hogg encountered a mass of running students, which he joined. A janitor stopped and redirected the crowd, saving them from heading in the direction of the shooter, and the group eventually found safety in a culinary classroom. “There was a tsunami of people running in one specific direction away from something,” he said, “and that’s what we were doing. It was almost like there was a shark coming along and we were a school of fish. And we were running from that armed man.”
A janitor appeared, he said, and began to wave. “Stop, stop!” he said, “Go over here!”
Then the school chef opened a door to her office and hurried the teenagers in — first 10, then 20, then some 30 or 40 students crowded in the office. They shut the lights. And then students turned to their phones, and began the horrifying experiencing of watching a school shooting unfold at their own school — through the news apps on their phones.
While they were hiding, Mr. Hogg proceeded to interview his classmates on camera about their beliefs on gun policy.While they were hiding, Mr. Hogg proceeded to interview his classmates on camera about their beliefs on gun policy.
“Students are dying trying to get an education,” he said on CNN. “That’s not OK. That’s not acceptable.” Mr. Hogg’s younger sister, 14, was also in the building. Two of her best friends were among the 17 people who died, he said.
Mr. Hogg, whose younger sister lost two friends in the shooting, called on politicians to act. “On a national scale, I’m not surprised at all. At all,” he said of the shooting. “And that’s just sad. The fact that a student is not surprised that there was another mass shooting — but this time it was at his school — says so much about the current state that our country is in, and how much has to be done.”
“We’re children,” he said. “You guys are the adults.” “Because if we’re constantly having our children worried about getting shot at, what are we telling our future? And that’s what these people are killing, our future.”
The violence must stop, he said, issuing a call to pressure lawmakers to act to make schools safer.
“We need to do something. We need to get out there and be politically active. Congress needs to get over their political bias with each other and work toward saving children’s lives.”
In an interview with CNN earlier on Thursday, Mr. Hogg expressed his frustration with politicians in simpler terms: “We’re children,” he said. “You guys are the adults.”
Kelsey Friend, a freshman at the school, appeared alongside Mr. Hogg on CNN, and grew emotional as she thanked a geography teacher who she said had saved her life.Kelsey Friend, a freshman at the school, appeared alongside Mr. Hogg on CNN, and grew emotional as she thanked a geography teacher who she said had saved her life.
“I will never forget the actions that he took for me and for fellow students of the classroom,” she said through tears. “And if his family is watching this, please know that your son or your brother was an amazing person and I’m alive today because of him. Thank you.”“I will never forget the actions that he took for me and for fellow students of the classroom,” she said through tears. “And if his family is watching this, please know that your son or your brother was an amazing person and I’m alive today because of him. Thank you.”
It was not immediately clear whether the teacher had survived the shooting.
[RELATED: A Visual Guide to the Florida School Shooting][RELATED: A Visual Guide to the Florida School Shooting]
Other students shared stories of the ordeal as well.Other students shared stories of the ordeal as well.
Sarah Crescitelli, a freshman, said Wednesday that she was in drama class when gunshots rang out. While hiding with about 40 others in a storage room, she texted her mother, telling her, “If I don’t make it, I love you.”Sarah Crescitelli, a freshman, said Wednesday that she was in drama class when gunshots rang out. While hiding with about 40 others in a storage room, she texted her mother, telling her, “If I don’t make it, I love you.”
Others, who spoke to CNN, described how a large group hid in an R.O.T.C. room where they used Kevlar blankets from a marksmanship class for protection.Others, who spoke to CNN, described how a large group hid in an R.O.T.C. room where they used Kevlar blankets from a marksmanship class for protection.
At a news conference on Thursday, Robert Runcie, the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, called for a national conversation on passing “sensible” gun control laws.At a news conference on Thursday, Robert Runcie, the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, called for a national conversation on passing “sensible” gun control laws.
“Our students are asking for that conversation,” he said. “And I hope we can get it done in this generation. But if we don’t, they will.”“Our students are asking for that conversation,” he said. “And I hope we can get it done in this generation. But if we don’t, they will.”