SUNRISE, FLA. (WSVN) - Owners of Harley-Davidson motorcycles rode across Broward County to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in their own special way.
7News cameras captured hundreds of bikers as they hit the road in Sunrise on Sunday.
“It’s very inspiring. I mean, it’s people from all ways of life here,” said rider Ben Holmes. “It brings everybody together and just shows everybody cares.”
The bikers cruised 20 miles to show their support for the students and teachers of the Parkland school.
“We’re Harley-Davidson. We do it with chrome and steel, you know?” said Joel Freiberg, who works with Harley-Davidson. “We have no other way to show how we feel but ride, bike and salute, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The motorcyclists took off from the Alligator Alley Harley-Davidson shop in Sunrise.
“I’m riding just to pay some respect for all of the families that lost a dear one, today,” said rider Nick Buse.
For some of the riders, the tragedy struck close to home. “My daughter goes to school across the street from the high school,” said Holmes. “I just felt this was another way we can be appreciative and give back to the guys and show our respect and let the families know that, in the biker community, we’re here for them.”
“My son graduated from Douglas High School, and I know some of the people, and it’s a very sad thing, to think that this happened in our community,” said rider Linda Smith.
The riders came from across South Florida. “We have our Hog Group, which is a Harley owners group, which is diversified all over the county, man,” said Freiberg. “People who are lawyers and doctors and accountants and all kinds of different people. We come from a broad section of South Florida, and we just want everybody to know that we’re behind them, and we’re here to help, and our community is our community, not just that community.”
“It’s great to see that we can come together as a unit, a family,” said rider Mary Briggs. “If you look around, you see how many bikes are here. There’s gotta be at least 300.”
The bikers’ journey took them to Stoneman Douglas High, where they paid their respects to the victims.
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