A long-awaited demolition project continued Monday of the building where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
A long-awaited demolition project continued Monday of the building where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Chopper 6 flew over what once was the school's 1200 building Monday morning, where cameras captured much more debris than when demolition began on Friday.
The demolition process is expected to last three weeks.
The building had been kept up to serve as evidence at the shooter's 2022 penalty trial. Jurors toured its bullet-pocked and blood-stained halls, but spared him a death sentence. He is serving a term of life without parole.
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The victims' families were invited to watch the first blows and hammer off a piece themselves as demolition began Friday.
Several victims' family members stood about 100 yards away in the school’s parking lot, holding their cellphones to take photos and video of the event.
Officials plan to complete the weekslong project before the school’s 3,300 students return in August from summer vacation. Most were in elementary school when the shooting happened.
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Many, including victims' family and former students, want the site turned into a memorial. Ultimately, the school, families and Parkland community will make a collaborative decision.
“I’d like to see it gone,“ former student Dylan Persaud said. “It puts a period on the end of the story. They should put a nice memorial there for the 17."
