Florida massacre: ‘Never miss telling your kids you love them’

Connor Dietrich watched the live coverage of the Florida high school massacre from under his classroom desk.

‘We were lying in that classroom crying while we knew people outside were dying’: Connor Dietrich yesterday.

Connor Dietrich, like most Americans, watched the live coverage of the Florida high school massacre, except he did so from under his classroom desk.

As gunman Nikolas Cruz roamed the hallways, Connor and his fellow students stifled sobs as they listened to the shots and the screams, believing they were next.

“We were lying in that classroom crying while we knew people outside were dying,” he told The Weekend Australian yesterday as he returned to the front gates of the school in which 17 of his fellow students and teachers had been gunned down the previous day.

“We were all watching the news on our phones with the sound turned down and we could see the death toll going up and we didn’t know if we were next.”

While the 17-year-old was lying there he heard news outlets name Cruz as the gunman. “And we were like, ‘Oh, it’s him, of course,” he says. “I have seen him around school and we all knew that he was a really sketchy kid, like he threatened a lot of people.”

Yesterday Parkland in southern Florida was a city caught ­between shock and mourning as it digested the fact their beloved ­Majory Stoneman Douglas High School was the scene of the second-worst school shooting in American history.

The school itself was a school of ghosts yesterday. Furniture in the classrooms was still in the chaotic jumble it was left in as students tried to flee. As of early yesterday some of the bodies were still there, as investigations continued. Around town, bereaved relatives of the victims huddled together in shock while families of the 14 ­injured held bedside vigils at local hospitals.

“I really can’t believe this has happened here, in our town, in our community,” Randi Battle said as her two young daughters placed flowers on a wire fence near the school entrance.

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

Around town, you could hear locals sharing stories about what they knew of Cruz, the troubled loner and gun fanatic who pumped rounds from his AR-15 ­assault rifle into five classrooms for reasons that remain unknown.

Near the school entrance, 16- year-old Tyra Baldeo was trying to comfort a friend who had ­collapsed to the ground in heaving sobs after taking a phone call. “She just heard her best friend was one of those killed,” Tyra said.

Tyra hid under her desk for an hour listening to the carnage in the hallways outside before a SWAT team burst in and led her class to safety.

Addison Jost, 16, says her friend saw the school’s much loved football coach and security guard Aaron Feis gunned down as he jumped in front of students to shield them from Cruz. “He was just the best guy, really, I mean the best,” said Jost, who hid under her desk for more than 30 minutes as Cruz shot up the school.

Stories of near and miraculous escapes were still emerging, as were tales of how loved ones ­bonded by text, not knowing if each would be their last.

Hannah Carbocci, 17, spoke of how she and her sister Kaitlin ­exchanged 77 text messages as Hannah sat huddled under her desk and Kaitlin was at work.

“I am so scared, Kaitlin, tell them (mum and dad) I love them so much,” she said in one.

Lori Alhadeff, mother of 14-year-old victim Alyssa, was crying as she gave a heart-wrenching interview in which she appealed to Donald Trump to do something to stop America’s school shootings.

“How do we allow a gunman to come into our children’s school? How do they get through security? What security is there?” she yelled. “The gunman — a crazy person — just walks right into the school, knocks down the window of my child’s door and starts shooting. Shooting her! And killing her!

“President Trump, you say what can you do? You can stop the guns from getting into these children’s hands. What can you do? You can do a lot! This is not fair to our families and our children to go to school and have to get killed!”

Last night, the town held a candlelight vigil for the victims in an amphitheatre.

It felt as if all of Parkland was there as a sea of ­locals stood ­silently, many holding hands and some holding bouquets of flowers over their heads.

On the stage stood 17 large figures of angels behind 17 candles.

Fred Guttenberg, father of one of the victims, 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg, told the crowd that he couldn’t remember something on the morning of day his daughter died. He said: “I don’t know ­whether I told her I loved her,” as she walked out the door for the last time. “Love your kids,” he told the crowd. “Hold your kids and never, ever miss the chance to tell them you love them.”