PARKLAND, Fla. – On Thursday, more families of the victims — as well as survivors — of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre visited the building where their loved ones, colleagues and classmates were killed more than five years ago.
It marked day two of tours for families who wanted to see the preserved crime scene for themselves. Loved ones like Tony Montalto and Linda Beigel Schulman toured Wednesday.
Max Schachter, whose son, Alex, an MSD student, was murdered, was one of Thursday’s visitors.
“I wanted to sit in Alex’s chair,” Schachter said. “I wanted to, to feel, to be there with him. This was the last place that Alex took his breath.”
Schachter described a harrowing tour, describing the conditions of the building thusly: “It is horrifying. It is a horror movie in there.”
“There is blood everywhere, all over that building, how he (the shooter) hunted down and tortured those students, and it is absolutely grotesque,” he said.
Schachter, who runs a nonprofit called Safe Schools for Alex, said the visit will inform what has become his life’s work — educating about the best practices in school safety.
“There’s still so much complacency,” he said. “Every legislator and every member of Congress should understand what happens when you don’t prioritize school safety, when you don’t take this seriously.”
Other visitors
Debra Hixon, now a Broward school board member, toured the building her husband Chris, then MSD’s athletic director, raced into to assist those under fire.
Surveillance video showed that he still tried to help victims even after being shot and mortally wounded.
Surviving then-student Isabel Chequer also visited the building, along with the families of murdered student Martin Duque Anguiano.
Officials expected more family members to visit in the coming days.