PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - On the second day, survivors and families of the victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School went inside the building, where everything remains as it was that tragic day.
The 1200 building is surrounded by a chain-link fence. It has not been changed, cleaned, or used since the day of the massacre on Feb. 14, 2018.
Families and those connected with the building began going inside the building since it reopened for private visits on Wednesday.
On Friday, the sister of Joaquin Oliver walked the building.
They decided to make the visit for several reasons — some to retrieve belongings, others to reflect and close this painful chapter as best as possible.
It was their first time entering since the Valentine’s Day massacre, and possibly their last, because of a potential demolition in the upcoming months.
“To feel, to be there with him. This was the last place that Alex took his breath,” said Max Schachter, who lost his 14-year-old son that day. “I felt Alex there, but I also felt the horror, the terror.” Alex would’ve been turning 20 next week.
Schachter walked in and sat in Alex’s chair in the room where he was shot and killed.
“There’s blood everywhere, all over that building,” said Schachter. “How [the gunman] hunted down and tortured those kids and staff members, it’s absolutely grotesque, it’s horrifying.”
The father found his son’s English book and decided to take it home with him. He also said that eventually, he will be taking Alex’s chair home as well.
“I wanted to know what happened in that building from being inside. I wanted to see where Alex was, I want to know why he’s not here today,” said Schachter.
Alex would have turned 20 next week.
Isabel Chequer was one of the students who returned to the building with her family to claim her belongings left in the classroom from that day.
“I saw Helena, I noticed that she had passed away,” said Chequer in a witness testimony from last year’s trial.
The former student was in her History of the Holocaust class when shots rang out. She hid behind a filing cabinet, where she was grazed twice by bullets as she watched two of her classmates die: Helena Ramsey and Nicholas Dworet.
“I began to freak out a little bit, but we were all just trying to calm each other down,” said Chequer.
Victims and families were allotted an hour inside the 1200 building. They were also offered support from victim advocates.
In addition to the bullet holes in the wall and blood, those who have gone inside said they saw teddy bears, Valentine’s candy and cards.
“The state attorney sent me a picture of my desk with the Valentine chocolates on it that students had given me,” said former MSD teacher Ivy Schamis, “and to just pick up and run out. [The state attorney asked if] I would like to go back and revisit my classroom. [I said], Yes, I would.”‘
Schamis and others have moved away from Parkland since the shooting, missing out on the opportunity to go inside and take what they can. Schamis hopes there will be some way that she can reclaim her belongings.
Another family member texted a 7News reporter, saying that the anger she felt from being inside the building was “overwhelming.”
Schachter, who started a group called Safe Schools for Alex, also said that going inside helped him inform his decision-making in some of the tips he wants to offer schools because he believes that U.S. schools still don’t take threats seriously.
Visits are expected to be completed over the next several days. After that, plans for demolishing the building are expected to be set in motion.
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