People watch as crews demolish a building where 17 people were killed 
during a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. —AFP
People watch as crews demolish a building where 17 people were killed during a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. —AFP

MIAMI: Crews started tearing down on Friday a building which was the scene of a US school shooting in 2018 that left 17 people dead.

In February that year, Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire inside the Parkland, Florida high school from which he had been expelled for disciplinary reasons.

It was one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. Fourteen of those killed were students and the rest were staff.

Cruz is serving a life sentence in prison.

On Friday, a giant excavator started punching holes in the building as it began demolishing it. The razing should take some weeks, the Broward county school district said.

Relatives of people who died in the massacre can observe the demolition from an area set aside for them, it said in a statement.

“This is one more step in our healing process,” Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed at the school, told CNN.

Since the day of the shooting the building has remained as it was — with bullet holes and bloodstains — as a crime scene as the murder case proceeded in court.

The demolition was supposed to have started on Thursday, but was delayed because of torrential rains.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Mixed signals
Updated 28 Dec, 2024

Mixed signals

If Imran wants talks to yield results, he should authorise PTI’s committee to fully engage with the other side without setting deadlines.
Opaque trials
Updated 28 Dec, 2024

Opaque trials

Secretive trials, shielded from scrutiny, fail to provide the answers that citizens deserve.
A friendly neighbour
28 Dec, 2024

A friendly neighbour

FORMER Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh who passed away on Thursday at 92 was a renowned economist who pulled ...
Desperate measures
Updated 27 Dec, 2024

Desperate measures

Sadly in Pakistan, street protests and sit-ins have become the only resort to catch the attention of a callous power elite.
Economic outlook
27 Dec, 2024

Economic outlook

THE post-pandemic years, marked by extreme volatility in the global oil and commodity markets as well as slowing...
Cricket and visas
27 Dec, 2024

Cricket and visas

PAKISTAN has asserted that delay in the announcement of the schedule of next year’s Champions Trophy will not...