Valentines Day marks the one year anniversary for the tragic mass shooting in Florida last year. An ex-student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school shot and killed 17 students in Parkland, Florida.
The mass shooting spurred an outcry for more gun control from survivors and people worldwide.
How is the event being remembered?
Schools across the state of Florida held a moment of silence at 10:17 local time to remember those who were killed.
Other schools in the US marked the anniversary by engaging in an active shooter drill. After the event in Florida, schools called for more prevent strategies to keep students safe. Organisers of the drill said it is a way to make the students and teachers feel safer and more prepared. The city of Parkland sponsored a vigil held at a park nearby the school where the shooting took place. Mental health professions attended the event to assist grieving students throughout the day.
A prominent student activist who survived the shooting, Emma Gonzalez, said she would remain silent through the weekend to remember her friends and others who were killed.
After the attack, students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school took part in a state-wide campaign calling on the President to reform gun control laws. The campaign was endorsed by the likes of former President Barack Obama, who expressed his concern about national gun safety laws. Obama commemorated the students in the campaign to mark the one year anniversary.
In the year since their friends were killed, the students of Parkland refused to settle for the way things are and marched, organized, and pushed for the way things should be – helping pass meaningful new gun violence laws in states across the country. I'm proud of all of them.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 14, 2019
Survivors of the shooting are still campaigning and supporting organisations who are lobbying for gun control. ‘Change the Ref’ is an organisation in name of Joaquin Oliver, a 17 year old boy who was killed in the Parkland mass shooting. It uses urban art to raise awareness by exposing the effects of mass shootings in America.
Nearly 1,200 children in the US have been killed by guns since the Parkland shooting last year.
Music: AShameluevMusic. Soundcloud, CC.