The brother of one of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting victims said he is glad that the building where the 2018 massacre took place is being torn down.
Demolition began Friday of the 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where Nikolas Cruz killed 14 students and three adults in a Valentine’s Day shooting. Cruz’s rampage injured 17 others in what was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.
Hunter Pollack, whose sister Meadow was one of the slain students, said the building is a constant reminder of the horrific tragedy.
“Every day I drive by that building, the pain in my heart. It makes me want to throw up because it reminds me my sister was murdered on that third floor. It could have been prevented, it wasn’t prevented, and it makes me furious,” Pollack, 26, told Fox News Digital.
“I think the building should be knocked down. We’ll never forget that Meadow is dead, of course, she’ll be forever in our hearts.”
The 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland has stood as a painful reminder of that tragic day and a nightmarish backdrop to current students who have been attending school in a new adjacent building on the campus. The new building replaced temporary classrooms students had been using for years after the massacre.
For years, it was left standing, frozen in time with its bullet-ridden walls and dry blood-stained floors as Cruz’s case and that of Parkland school resource officer Scot Peterson moved through the courts.
In 2022, Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Peterson was acquitted last year of felony child neglect and other criminal charges for failing to enter the building, engage the gunman and help the victims during the six-minute rampage.
However, the 1200 building is now being ripped down, and the operation is expected to take several weeks. Torrential rain in the Sunshine State prevented the start of demolition from going ahead as initially planned on Thursday.
Survivors, families of victims, as well as teachers and staff, had any items they desired returned to them, the Broward County Public Schools said.
“I spoke to a law clerk that was working in a law firm, and he said that when he watched the footage of what happened he had to take a break as he was throwing up and crying. I mean, it was just totally disgusting and the inside of the building itself was blood all over the place. It was chaotic. It was something that you can’t fathom unless you saw the footage, the pictures, or walked the building yourself.”
“And that’s why I think it’s best that that building comes down, and we get a fresh start in the community, because the community deserves a fresh start.”
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