PARKLAND, Fla. – Families of the victims and survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre were allowed back into the 1200 building where the shooting occurred beginning Wednesday.
The crime scene has remained unaltered since the Valentine’s Day 2018 shooting — but the building is slated to be demolished now that criminal proceedings are over.
Tony Montalto was one of the parents who chose to visit the scene. He lost his daughter, Gina, that day.
“Entering the building where my daughter was shot was one of the top five hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Montalto said. “Superseded, of course, by seeing her cold body.”
Montalto, recounting the visit, said he saw the shooter’s “attempted sniper’s nest.”
He described what it was like to walk the hallways.
“I was able to see how close the failed Deputy (Scot) Peterson was,” Montalto said. “He may not be a criminal but his actions were certainly cowardly.”
The week prior, Peterson was found not guilty of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury charges after taking cover during and after the massacre.
Noon report:
Linda Beigel Schulman, mother of slain geography teacher Scott Beigel, was among the visitors Wednesday.
“I can’t say goodbye, I just can’t say goodbye,” Beigel Schulman said. “It’s been five years and 151 days. It’s been 1,969 days and I still can’t say goodbye.”
“I can’t say goodbye.” Through tears Linda Beigel Schuman counts the days her life has moved forward without her son Scott Beigel, one of the 17 #ParklandMurdered. “It’s been 1,969 days and I still can’t say goodbye.” pic.twitter.com/ZrS0B8qJ0E
— Christina Boomer Vazquez, M.S. (@CBoomerVazquez) July 5, 2023
During the shooter’s trial, family members saw surveillance video from the shooting. Beigel Schulman was among those who walked the shooter’s path in person Wednesday, bearing witness to brutal acts of murder suspended in time.
“Actually going through it makes the video like a cartoon,” she said. “You see the glass on the floor, you see the bullet holes, you see the blood. It’s beyond belief.”
Families had the choice to visit.
“Not everybody wants to go,” Debbi Hixon, who lost her husband Chris, MSD’s athletic director, in the shooting, said.
Hunter Pollack, who lost his sister Meadow in the mass murder, said in a statement, “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 & if touring the 1200 will help them, they should have the option to do so. However, I will likely opt out of it.”
Montalto said the visit did not bring closure.
“It’s just another step in the process,” he said. “I’ll never close out Gina. She’ll always be my first born, my only daughter.”
Beigel Schulman thinks lawmakers should walk the halls as well.
The building will return to the custody of the Broward County school district prior to its demolition.
That demolition may be delayed, however, after families filed a motion in court Monday during the ongoing civil case to allow for a recorded re-enactment of the shooting:
““Plaintiffs, by and through undersigned counsel, pursuant to Rule 1.350 of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, hereby request permission to enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for the purpose of conducting audio and video recordings of a reenactment that would parallel the killer’s movements, and the gunfire, inside of Building 12, in relation to Defendant Scot Peterson’s movements and actions outside of the building, in order to demonstrate that Peterson could hear the gunshots and derive where they were coming from. Neither of the previous inspections parallel the weight and accuracy that this proposed reenactment will provide. Although the Plaintiffs have ample evidence that Peterson heard upwards of 70 shots, and knew where they were coming from, such demonstrative evidence cannot be duplicated.”
Court motion
“We don’t want to leave anything to chance for Peterson to escape justice in our civil case like he escaped justice in the criminal case…We are attempting to schedule a hearing for as soon as possible on our motion, so that, if granted, we can complete the reenactment promptly and not delay the destruction of the building,” plaintiffs’ attorney David Brill said Wednesday.
David W. Brill, Plaintiffs’ attorney tells me: “we don’t want to leave anything to chance for Peterson to escape justice in our civil case like he escaped justice in the criminal case…We are attempting to schedule a hearing for as soon as possible” to not delay demolition.
— Christina Boomer Vazquez, M.S. (@CBoomerVazquez) July 5, 2023
Regarding Montalto’s comments about Peterson Wednesday, the deputy’s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, released a statement.
“My heart continues to go out to all the victims’ family members who continue to suffer from the abhorrent acts committed by Nikolas Cruz,” Eiglarsh said. “Jurors spent four days and 20 hours deliberating and determined my client committed no wrong doing. Additionally, the evidence proved that, contrary what his former boss Scott Israel alleged for his own selfish political reasons, Scot Peterson’s actions were not cowardice at all.”