Demolition of Parkland high school massacre site begins as some families of the victims look on

CNN

By Alaa Elassar, Holly Yan, Denise Royal and Carlos Suarez, CNN

Parkland, Florida (CNN) — For six years, a building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people, was a nightmare frozen in time. But now, the 1200 building, which contained the bloody and heartbreaking remnants of the massacre, is being demolished.

The demolition of the building began Friday morning, and some family members of the victims watched from nearby tents on school property. It is expected to take several weeks to complete, according to the Broward County Public Schools district. The district said in May the demolition would take place in summer 2024 following the end of the school year, which was Monday.

The demolition was initially set to begin Thursday, but was delayed due to days of torrential flooding rain in South Florida.

The shooting ripped apart 17 families, including 14 students and three faculty members, on Valentine’s Day in 2018. The gunman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“This is one more step in our healing process,” Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was killed at the school, told CNN Friday.

“And it’s important that… six years later, that this building comes down and my family, you know, we’re grieving the death of our daughter, Alyssa. We’re healing but we’re also trying to make change.”

Alhadeff founded the nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe, which promotes school safety. Alyssa’s Law, which requires that public elementary and secondary school buildings be equipped with silent panic alarms to notify law enforcement, is on the books in six states.

“We know that time equals life,” said Alhadeff, noting that legislators who toured the building – “seeing the blood on the ground, the glass on the floor, the horror” – were moved to action.

Alhadeff said she hoped the grounds will be turned into a “usable space” she called “MSD Legacy Field” that can serve as a “teachable area where we can remember and keep the legacy alive.”

“The day before Alyssa was murdered, she played in her last soccer game and she was fierce,” her mother recalled Friday. “She was captain of her soccer team, wore number eight, and we just miss and love Alyssa so much, and we will continue to keep your memory alive through Make Our Schools Safe.”

The school building was preserved pending the trials of both the shooter and Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson, who stayed outside during the massacre. A judge acquitted Peterson on all counts, absolving him of wrongdoing in the rare trial of a law enforcement officer.

“We understand the urgency of this matter, but it is essential to prioritize safety above all else. In preparation for the demolition, crews will clean and clear the building, adhering to state and the Environmental Protection Agency’s landfill disposal regulations. As we continue to heal, we remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting the Marjory Stoneman Douglas community and will provide updates as information becomes available,” it continued.

Students initially returned to the campus two weeks after the shooting. But building 1200, where most of the victims were killed, was closed off behind emergency tape with its windows covered. A new building later replaced the temporary classrooms students had been using in the wake of the slaughter.

Survivors and family members of those killed in the shooting were given — at their request — private, individual tours in 2023 inside the 1200 building and described a tragic and grotesque scene, with blood stains in the areas where the victims had been killed, bullet holes puncturing the classrooms, and Valentine’s Day candy still on students’ desks.

Other school shooting sites destroyed

Many schools where mass shootings occur choose to demolish the sites of the massacres to ease the extraordinary trauma experienced by survivors, victims’ families and the rest of the community. Four years after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 26, a newly rebuilt school opened to students — including fourth-graders who were kindergarteners during the bloodbath.

Columbine High School also demolished its school library, where most of the carnage ensued during the 1999 shooting that killed 13, and replaced it with a newly built school library named the Hope Library.

In Uvalde, Texas, where students at Robb Elementary School were marred by the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers in 2022, city officials have said they also plan to destroy the building.

“In many cases, these schools are closed or entirely renovated in an attempt to decrease the traumatic reminders that they have become for community members,” according to the Center for Violence Prevention at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

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CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.