Lori Alhadeff called for action to President Donald Trump, begging him to “do something” after her 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa Alhadeff, was killed in Wednesday’s Florida school shooting that left 17 people dead.
With tears streaming down her face, Alhadeff also apologized to her deceased daughter while looking into the camera.
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“Alyssa, I am so sorry this happened to you. I would have taken he bullets for you. I would have protected you and I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I love you with all my heart and so does your dad.”
“I would have taken the bullets for you.” Lori Alhadeff, the mother of Alyssa, who was killed in the mass shooting at a Florida high school delivers a message to her daughter if she were still alive https://t.co/Bq9QqBSb5m pic.twitter.com/0a8xUka0qh
— CNN (@CNN) February 16, 2018
CNN aired the clip from its affiliate network, leaving anchor Brooke Baldwin and Rep. Ted Deutch in tears.
She then spoke directly to Trump: “You can stop guns from getting into these children’s hands! Put metal detectors at every entrance to the school!”
“What can you do? You can do a lot,” Alhadef added. “This is not fair to our families that our children go to school and have to get killed!”
Alhadeff screamed into a microphone and glared into the camera during an interview with HLN.
“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,” she said. “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!”
Alhadeff described a parent’s worst nightmare. “I just spent the last two hours putting [together] the burial arrangements for my daughter’s funeral, who’s 14.”
The mom of three said she’s begging for action so the tragedy isn’t repeated and so that children can feel safe at school.
“I’m fighting for all these kids here. All of them, because these are the ones that have to go back to that school. And they have to feel safe. And I have two other children and they have to feel safe in their heart.”
Many are calling out President Trump for not mentioning the word “gun” or touching on gun control during his seven-minute long speech Thursday about the school shooting. At a candlelight vigil held Thursday in Parkland, Florida for the 17 victims, some protesters showed up with signs that read “no more guns,” and a chant of “no more guns” reportedly broke out throughout the crowd.
Alyssa Alhadeff was one of 17 that were killed Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by former student Nikolas Cruz. The 19-year-old had been expelled from the school last spring for fighting with another student. Within two minutes of arriving at the school Wednesday via an Uber, he opened fire on students and teachers just before dismissal.
Cruz was charged Thursday with 17 counts of premeditated murder. He confessed to the crime and appeared briefly in a preliminary court appearance Thursday. He is being held at Broward County Jail without bond.
