PARKLAND, Fla. – The Broward State Attorney’s Office has confirmed that family members and survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre will be allowed inside the 1200 building where the shooting occurred beginning Wednesday.
“At the request of the family members and survivors, those visits will be strictly private,” a spokeswoman for the state attorney’s office said in an email Tuesday. “Those who have decided they wish to view the crime scene before it is altered will be accompanied by prosecutors and victim advocates from the Broward State Attorney’s Office, advocates from Eagles’ Haven Wellness Center, law enforcement officials from the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the liaison advocate for the Broward County School District.
“The individual family members and survivors will be accompanied only by the representatives from these agencies that they choose to have with them.”
Debra Hixon said she will be one of the victims’ loved ones touring the 1200 building.
Her husband, Marjory Stoneman Douglas athletic director Chris Hixon, was killed on Feb. 14, 2018, after the shooter made his way inside the building.
“I wavered,” she said. “Did I want to, did I not want to.”
The state attorney’s office has had possession of the building since the shooting, which left 17 students and staff members dead.
The building has been preserved as a crime scene as the trials of the shooter and former school resource officer Scot Peterson remained ongoing.
But now, with both over, those who choose to go inside will be able to do so beginning Wednesday and for the next few weeks.
“This procedure for the 34 listed victims in the mass shooting prosecution was made at their request and with the cooperation and agreement of the Broward State Attorney’s Office, Broward Sheriff’s Office and Broward School District,” the spokeswoman said.
“Not everybody wants to go,” Hixon said.
Hunter Pollack, who lost his sister Meadow in the mass murder, told Local 10 News he would not be visiting the building.
“There is no standard on how to grieve the vicious murder of your child or sibling. Each person should do what will help them find closure and if touring the 1200 will help them, they should have the option to do so. However, I will likely opt out of it,” said Pollack. “Every time you pass by the building, it is as if a wound has been reopened in your heart.”
Hixon said she isn’t hoping to find closure there, but she does hope it will help her and her family mark another chapter in their grieving process.
“It’s that final piece of...you’ve seen the video, you heard the testimony, now to be in that space and get the perspective of what it all means, and to be able to shut that door and keep moving forward,” Hixon said. “But at the end of the day, there’s nothing worse than what we’ve already gone though, and no matter what you see or do, Chris (Hixon) isn’t here and that’s the worst part, so the rest of it, you just get through.”
After the visits, custody of the building will be turned back over to the Broward School District and it will be demolished.