Florida School Shooting: Victim Peter Wang Held Door Open For Others

'Funny, caring, selfless'

At least 17 people are dead after a 19-year-old man opened fire at a high school campus in Parkland, Florida.

The attack began at 14:30 local time (19:30 GMT) on Wednesday {14 February 2018} at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about an hour north of Miami.

Buenos Dias


What a Horrible & tragic way to spend Valentine's Day.
It is with a heavy heart & dried off tears that I bring you this senseless tragedy of which many heroes arose. From Peter Wang, to the teachers, to the janitor, to the police responders. A huge Thank You & Salute to each & every one of them.

This is the worst shooting since 2012, when gunman Adam Lanza attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
He shot dead 20 young children and six adults before killing himself.


It is the sixth school shooting incident in 2018 that has either wounded or killed students, according to the advocacy website.Is this now becoming a TREND? School Shooting? With so many in such short periods of time, it's hard to believe that more and more disturbed people are thinking the only way to vent their, anger, pain & torment is to shoot up a school?

I researched South African School Shooting as well:

Soweto school

Soweto, South Africa

September 19, 1994

0

An 18-year-old student shot and wounded seven of his schoolmates with a rifle, after he had been reprimanded. The youth then escaped in his father's car.[128]

Soweto school	Soweto, South Africa	July 29, 1999	3	Teacher Charles Raboroko shot and killed three of his colleagues in the staffroom at Anchor Comprehensive High School in Soweto. When he tried to escape he was hindered by angry students outside the school, whereupon he hid in a classroom, where he was later arrested by police. Raboroko was said to have borne a grudge against one of his victims, Henry Lebea, whom he killed with five shots in the head.[129][130]
Welkom school	Welkom, Free State, South Africa	August 31, 2009	2	Jaco Stiglingh, a teacher at Gimnasium High School in Welkom, South Africa shot and killed deputy principal Johan Liebenberg, 53, inside his office before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.[131]

Ngqeleni school	Ngqeleni, Eastern Cape, South Africa	January 26, 2010	2	After an argument a 25-year-old man shot and seriously wounded his girlfriend, who was working as a clerk at Jongingaba Junior-Secondary School. A 12-year-old girl was also killed inside a classroom by a stray bullet, before the gunman tried to escape. He was later caught and killed by an angry mob.[132]
Spes Bona High School	Cape Town, South Africa	May 14, 2013	1	17-year-old Enrico Martin was shot in the head while he was entering Spes Bona High School. He later died in a hospital. Authorities believe that the attack was gang-related. No arrests have been made.[133][134]

This is a SERIOUS CONCERN! We need to change this way of normalized thinking around mass school shootings!

And while Peter is the focus of this post I'd like us all reading this now to take a moment of silence & prayer for each and every one of these 17 victims killed.

Alyssa Alhadeff, a student and soccer player

Scott Beigel, a geography teacher. The 35-year unlocked his classroom door to let students take shelter in his classroom when he was struck by a bullet and killed.

Martin Duque, a 14-year-old freshman & Nicholas Dworet, a senior

Aaron Feis, who worked as an assistant football coach and security guard. "He selflessly shielded students from the shooter when he was shot."

Jaime Guttenberg, a student & Luker Hoyer, a 15-year-old freshman

Chris Hixon, athletic director and wrestling coach

Cara Loughran & Gina Montalto

Joaquin "Guac" Oliver & Alaina Petty

Meadow Pollack & Helena Ramsey

Alex Schachter, 14 & Carmen Schentrup

Peter Wang, 15 was killed after holding the door open for others to escape
 

"I don't want this to ever happen to anyone else again. The fact is there are 17 families that now have empty rooms…"

~said David Hogg, a student who survived the shooting

This quote really stuck with me, it brings about such profound sadness and mourning for those families & the lives lost, all in one sentence. 17 empty rooms, 17 smiles that will never be seen again, 17 souls no longer on this plane of existence. As I look through these faces, some caught in unique moments of pure joy & happiness, I realize just how precious & unpredictable life really is. 

This is footage taken At the time of the shooting.

***

The suspect was Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the school who had been expelled. He escaped with fleeing students but is now in police custody.
Police say Cruz, an expelled former student, was heavily armed when he began his massacre at the Florida high school.

What's worse is that the FBI was warned about Cruz. He was reported. 

He entered the premises wearing a gas mask and armed with a rifle, smoke grenades and ammunition, setting off a fire alarm so that students would leave the classrooms and come out into the corridors
Cruz killed three people outside the school, before gaining access through one of the school's teaching buildings and killing a further 12.

Two others died from their injuries later on at nearby hospitals.
The attacker has now confessed to police.
"Cruz stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with a AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on the school grounds," a court document read.

******************

Witnesses told of how Wang, who was part of the Royal Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program had selflessly held open the door to enable others to flee before himself.

Peter's bereft cousin, Aaron Chan, was in the school at the time of the shooting and saw Wang helping classmates to escape while dressed in his grey ROTC uniform.

"He wasn't supposed to die. He was supposed to grow old with me," Aaron told First Coast News.

"He is so funny, caring and selfless,'' added Lin Chen, Wang's 24-year-old cousin.

Chen, who flew in from Louisiana to be with the family, continued: "He is so brave. He is the person who is genuinely kind to everyone. He doesn't care about popularity. He always liked to cheer people up. He is like the big brother everyone wished they had."

Can you imagine for a moment that you were Peter Wang? Can you empathize on those last moments of his? Or can you imagine if this was Your Kid, Your Child, Your Son??
You hear the gunshots, your body becomes flushed with adrenaline but every instinct you have is screaming out in terror for you to run, to find any way possible out of the school right now! But instead you use every ounce of strength you can muster to stifle that. Your ROTC training kicks in and suddenly you're on auto pilot, holding the door open & helping others get to safety FIRST.
Could you do that? Do you think this is how you would react?

Hundreds gathered on Thursday for a prayer vigil at Parkridge church, in Parkland, Florida

© Enricoh Alfonzo ~ Alfonzo Words 

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~Be Kind to One Another~ Ellen Degeneres