Florida School Shooting Survivors: Thank You America

PARKLAND, FL — They were the children hiding under desks and in closets exactly one month ago as an emotionally disturbed gunman roamed the hallways of their suburban Florida school, indiscriminately firing burst after burst from his AR-15 assault rifle into their classrooms. Today, they are done hiding. The newly emboldened students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had a message to share with the thousands of children who walked out of their classrooms across the United States on Wednesday to offer up one minute of silence for each of the 17 victims here: Thank you America.

"It means so much to me that all of these people are coming out. It's crazy," observed 14-year-old Dean Gordon, a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. "Thank you."

Gordon said that the school has been different since it reopened two weeks ago.

"It's a big difference. There's more security," he told Patch. "Teachers are being so much nicer."

The 10 a.m. events in Parkland and across the United States were intended to honor the victims while also calling on lawmakers to pass stricter gun laws. Officials in Broward County, where Stoneman Douglas is located and in nearby Miami-Dade County, said they did not plan to punish students who exercised their First Amendment rights to walk out of their classrooms.

Stoneman Douglas freshman Priyank Rampat was also thankful for the outpouring of support.

"Today is special," the 15-year-old told Patch. "I think it's just amazing. It's what's keeping us going."

Most of the more than 3,000 students who attend Stoneman Douglas poured onto a field to start their walkout, fully aware of the other events around the country. The student drama club reprised its original song called "Shine" that was written in the days following the attack.

"You're not going to knock us down. We'll get back up again," the song went. "Together we have the power to change the world around us."

As the students were marching in Florida, an FBI official was testifying before a Senate committee in Washington, D.C. regarding the failure of his agency to act on a detailed tip regarding accused Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.

"Did the FBI reach out to law enforcement to give them a warning about Cruz and if not, why not?" pressed Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa during the hearing.

“No sir we did not," conceded acting FBI Deputy Director David L. Bowdich. "You are absolutely correct senator. The call was very explicit. However, they made a decision to close it. No lead value, and no call was made to the local jurisdiction.”

On Tuesday, Broward State Attorney Michael J. Satz filed a notice of his intent to seek the death penalty when Cruz stands trial on 17 counts of premeditated murder in the first degree and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

"This is just the beginning," Allison Macleod said of the walkout. Her son attends Stoneman Douglas and it wasn't her family's first brush with disaster.

"Believe it or not, my husband survived Sept. 11. We moved here right after that. So now my son has survived the school shooting," explained Macleod. "It takes such a long time to process this. Some people are still deep in grief and haven't gotten out of bed — some of these moms. Other people are just relentless. We've got a few fathers here who have been just doing everything they can to make change. Everybody's handling it differently."

Ilise Bogart's daughter, Rebecca, was in her Holocaust class when the gunfire broke out. She managed to take cover under a desk but two of her classmates were killed during the attack.

The Bogarts attended five funerals in the span of a week's time.

"Some of the kids didn't have anywhere to hide," sighed the mother, who said that her heart is still broken for the victims.

"It's my daughter's senior year. It's supposed to be the best year for her, and she's traumatized," Bogart confided. "We're all traumatized."

Gloria Cartigiano lost her 16-year-old son in another tragic incident involving guns but joined the students and parents outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas on Wednesday to show her support. She said that she felt her son's presence as she stood in the bright Florida sunshine.

"He's here with me," she told Patch of her son, James. "Of course he is."

Watch as Parkland students leave their classrooms to honor the shooting victims:

Photo gallery and video by Paul Scicchitano