Mom Hates Florida School Shooting Photo That Captured Her Anguish: ‘Every Time I Look at That Picture I Relive It’

The mother whose anguish was captured in a now iconic photograph from the Parkland, Florida school shooting says that “every time I look at that picture I relive it.”

As parents began learning of the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed the lives of 17 students and teachers, Cathi Rush was among the parents to rush to the school, waiting outside in terror as she hoped to be reunited with her two sons.

Her anguish in the moments after hearing about the shooting was captured in a photograph that has now been shared on social media thousands of times. It is an image that Rush says she hates.

“I hate that photo. Every time I look at that picture I relive it,” Rush told CNN’s Don Lemon, according to the Daily Mail.

Rush, whose two sons attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas middle and high schools, says that she was at work when she received a robocall from her son’s middle school, but being “so desensitized to the lockdowns,” she went back to work.

After she learned that the lockdown wasn’t a drill and that SWAT teams were on their way to the school, she rushed to the scene. Her oldest son, Adam, was able to evacuate to a nearby Walmart parking lot and was able to contact his mother, but she was unable to contact her youngest son, Brandon.

“I parked my car and spilled out of my car to the ground, and my friend Michelle picked me up, and that’s the one in the picture. I had no idea someone snapped that photo,” Rush explained.

Rush was eventually reunited with Brandon, who had been hiding under a table in his classroom, but the tragic shooting still hit too close to home, as their friend’s daughter, 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg, was among the 17 victims.

“It seems very real, my friends buried their daughter yesterday,” Rush said, speaking of Jaime, who had been in her son Brandon’s class since second grade.

Since the shooting, several funerals for the victims have already been held, with thousands of students, teachers and family in attendance.