The Broward Education Foundation has established a GoFundMe page to raise money for the victims and families of the Florida school shooting Wednesday that left 17 students and adults dead.
Suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and booked in the Broward County Jail in Parkland without bond.
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The GoFundMe account, which is called the Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund, will also help raise money for the relief of students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Broward County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed the Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund as the official GoFundMe that will help victims.
“There are no words to express the sorrow that we are all feeling,” the description on the page reads. “Together with Superintendant Robert Runcie, the School Board of Broward County, Broward County Mayor Beam Furr and Commissioners, Broward Legislative Delegation and Broward County Public Schools family, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, as well as the entire Marjory Stoneman Douglas community.”
By 11:15 a.m. ET, the page had raised over $48,000 of its $100,000 goal; as of 11:45 a.m., the page had changed its goal to $300,000 and had raised over $130,000.
Among the first victims to be identified are athletic director Chris Hixon and football coach and security guard Aaron Feis, who has been hailed as a hero after stepping in front of bullets to shield students.
One student reportedly told Fox News, “[Feis] sprinted with everything he had towards it to make sure everybody was safe, and I heard that he got in front of a couple people and shielded them, and he actually took the bullets for them.”
“He’s very well dedicated to the safety of the school during the daytime,” former student Andrew Hofmann told the Miami Herald.
Hofmann described the coach as “a quiet person” with a good sense of humor. “When there’s a funny joke he is always laughing for sure,” he said.
Feis, who was 37, graduated from Douglas High in 1999 and has worked at the school for his entire coaching career, according to the school’s website.
The high school’s football team’s Twitter account announced Feis’ death “with great sadness,” and many others chimed in on social media with kind words about the fallen hero.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel praised Feis as “one of the greatest people I knew.”
“I coached with him,” Israel revealed in a press conference. “You’ll get 2,000 kids there…When he was killed, he did it protecting others. That’s who Aaron Feis was.”
Hixon, who was 49 years old, was also praised by many.
“Chris is such a great guy,” said Coral Springs High School athletic director Dan Jacob told the Sun-Sentinel. “Chris is probably the nicest guy I have ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back. He does so much. That is terrible that it would happen to anybody. It is so senseless.”
“I am crushed. … I am totally crushed.”
