Florida school shooting: Victim’s mother slams Donald Trump: ‘Do something’

A MOTHER’S gut-wrenching reaction to the school massacre left CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin in tears and barely able to speak.

THE mother of a student killed in the Parkland school massacre has hit out at United States President Donald Trump, asking how children can be killed at school.

In a gut-wrenching interview on CNN, Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was shot dead in yesterday’s horrific school shooting in Florida, pleads with the President to do more to keep kids safe.

Alyssa was one of 17 people killed after shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, 19, stormed his former high school and opened fire on students and teachers.

Police said he carried out his deadly mission with an AR-15 rifle that he had bought legally.

The grieving mother, who had just spent two hours arranging her daughter’s funeral, asked how a gunman is allowed to enter schools and questioned what security was in place to stop it.

Ms Alhadeff's daughter Alyssa was tragically killed in yesterday’s massacre. Picture: Screengrab/CNN

The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was the 18th shooting at a US school this year.

“The gunman, a crazy person comes into the school, knocks down the window of my child’s door and starts shooting, starts shooting her, and killing her,” Ms Alhadeff said.

“President Trump, you say what can you do? You can stop the guns from getting into these children’s hands.

The grieving mother said the President could do more to stop guns getting into schools. Picture: Screengrab/CNN

“Put metal detectors at every entrance to the schools. What can you do? You can do a lot.

“This is not fair to our families — that our children go to school and have to get killed.”

She then calls on Mr Trump to put words into action.

“President Trump, please do something, do something, action, we need it now, these kids need safety now,” Ms Alhadeff said.

Student Alyssa Alhadeff was killed in yesterday’s tragedy.

The emotional moment left CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin in tears and barely able to speak.

The visibly upset anchor took a moment to compose herself before turning to Florida Democrat Ted Deutch who she was about to interview.

“Just hearing that mother, I’m sorry. ... It got me. ... what do you say?”

Mr Trump and the First Lady both yesterday tweeted their condolences following news of the shooting.

In a speech overnight the President didn’t mention gun laws and instead linked the shooting to mental health problems.

Brooke Baldwin asks for a pause following the interview. Picture: Screengrab/CNN

“No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school,” he said.

“No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.

“We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.”

CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin couldn’t hide her emotions. Picture: Screengrab/CNN

The call for action over gun laws comes as Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said “it’s time for Congress to get off its ass and do something” and that the time for talk was over.

“This happens nowhere else other than the United States of America,” Senator Murphy said.

Those sentiments were echoed by a teenage survivor of the shooting who said politicians must to do more when it came to getting guns out of schools.

Lyliah Skinner told CNN it was time for action and had a message for those in Congress.

“I would ask them if kids aren’t even allowed to purchase their first drink of alcohol then how are we allowed to buy guns at the age of 18 or 19?,” the 16-year-old asked.

“I feel like that’s something that we shouldn’t be able to do and I feel like we need to create some better gun laws because obviously whatever we have going on is not working.”

She called on legislators to offer more than prayers and words because “they mean nothing”

“We need action,” Lyliah said. “Because action’s what’s gonna change what’s happening.

Nikolas Cruz appears in court after being charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, court documents showed. Picture: Michele Eve Sandberg/AFP

DEADLY MASSACRE

As more details and survivor stories emerged following the tragedy, police said Cruz, who is being held on 17 counts of murder, has confessed to being the gunman in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.

According to Broward County Sheriff’s Office report, Cruz told interrogating officers that he “began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds”.

Victims of the shooting: Top row, left to right: Alyssa Alhadeff, Peter Wang, Gina Montalto, Alaina Petty, Joaquin Oliver, Luke Hoyer, Martin Duque, Jaime Guttenburg. Bottom row, left to right: Chris Hixon, Alex Schachter, Cara Loughran, Meadow Pollack, Scott Beigel, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Carmen Schentrup.

Cruz also told officers he “brought additional loaded magazines to the school campus and kept them hidden in a backpack until he got on campus to begin his assault”.

Police believe he acted alone, was allegedly armed with an AR-15-style rifle and had multiple ammunition magazines when he surrendered to officers in a nearby residential area.

The former student, who was expelled from the school for unspecified disciplinary reasons, loved guns, police said.

Students hold their hands in the air after being evacuated by police from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Picture: Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/AP

The shooting remains the second deadliest shooting in a US public school after the 2012 massacre of 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

The deadliest school shooting in US history was at Virginia Tech in 2007, when 32 people were killed.

— with wires

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