17 Victims - Chris Hixon, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Gina Montalto, Scott Beigel, Alyssa Alhadeff, Joaquin Oliver, Jaime Guttenberg, Martin Duque, Meadow Pollack, Alex Schachter, Peter Wang, Helena Ramsay, Alaina Petty, Carmen Schentrup, Cara Loughran, Luke Hoyer

artformarket on February 16th, 2018 at 15:06 UTC »

I wish that everyone reading this knew Joaquin, or his family. They are incredibly wonderful, artistic people that moved here from Venezuela... to escape violence. I am dreading seeing his father, I know him so well for so many years, but right now I have no idea what to say when I see him.

Dildo_Myfavoriteword on February 16th, 2018 at 15:42 UTC »

This'll be fairly therapeutic for me because I've been having trouble saying this out loud.

I'm from the area and was a swimmer for Coral Springs Swim Club for a very long time. The aquatic centre is about 4 miles away from Douglas so we've always had a large contingent of students from Douglas. I met Nick Dworet when he was only 12 or 13 and he just started picking up swimming. He was an enormous talent, and he had a passion for the sport. 2 years after that I was on my road to retirement and started coaching, and I had the pleasure in coaching Nick for a short period of time before there was a restructuring of athletes, but we still spoke. When he turned 15 he gave up swimming, and for lack of a better word become a delinquent of sorts. He'd occasionally come back to the pool and try his hand at a come back but never really stuck with it. He then switched to TS Aquatics, a team in Tamarac.

This is where it amazed me, because he flourished. I eventually started coaching at the same team, and saw that he started to love the sport again. He became an unofficial team captain, he was friends with everyone, spoke to all of he kids including the youngest of them. When his sophomore year came around he wasn't allowed to swim for the school team because his GPA wasn't high enough, that was when he realised he needed to change things. He immediately started working the hardest I've ever seen a high schooler work in and out of the water. His junior year came with some success and a regular person. Would've called it quits then, but it only motivated Nick more. The summer of 2017, Nick didn't miss a single practice, weights session, or team event. He was taking online courses to recoup his GPA (if I'm not mistaken), and I remember having multiple conversations with him in the parking lot of the pool about swimming, and colleges. He was determined. I was amazed at the change from the 12 year old kid to this 17 year old mature beyond his years.

His senior year of high school, his GPA being up to standard he took high school swimming by storm. If I'm not mistaken, winning his regional meet, making states, and then placing 5th in the 100 free. He made FUTURES cuts, and he had schools becoming interested. He had offers from University of Tampa, Kenyon, and a few other powerhouse D2 swimming colleges. I remember the day on the pool deck when he came and spoke to the coaching staff and saying he had made his decision on going to the University of Indianapolis. This was a tragedy that needs to be prevented from ever happening again. TS Aquatics loved him and he loved us all back. We are always going to be a family.

He taught me something in hindsight, that you could've made mistakes in the past, but in no way shape or form do you give up. You will always have the opportunity and the strength to change and mold your life to what you want it to be.

Rest Easy bud, you meant more to us then you'd ever know.

sidTHAkid on February 16th, 2018 at 15:46 UTC »

Hi everyone, my name is Sid, I'm a Junior at Stoneman Douglas and I'd like to share my story of what went on in room 1214, the third room that was shot into by the shooter, and where Nick Dworet (second to top right) and Helena Ramsey (second to bottom right) were killed.

2:20 PM - We are working on the laptops doing an online activity when we hear about 10-15 gunshots outside of our door. Everyone scatters and from about 25 kids, two groups were split in different corners. I was in the corner that is immediately to the right of the entrance, Nick was in the back right corner that could be immediately seen from the entrance. The group with Nick and Helena were trying to form a barricade with a cabinet and a computer cart (one that holds laptops and charges them) but without even 20 seconds to react, the shooter comes to our door and starts shooting through the window of the door. He was shooting at the corner that Nick and Helena were in as well as about 12 other students with them in that corner. Nick got caught in the fire and died immediately, Helena also got caught and was shot twice in her chest. I was in the opposite corner so I couldn't see his body because a cabinet was in the way, and I'm thankful that I didn't witness his body because it probably would have affected me much more. A girl told me she had to use Nick's body as a shield once she saw he was dead immediately :(

Here is an edited version of the map to show the corner where I was hiding (blue), where Nick and Helena were (orange) and where the shooter was shooting from (red). Thank you for the support you have been giving. And if any of you came out to the vigil yesterday, I have no words for how happy I am that you came to support.