When gunfire began ringing out in the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday afternoon, students fearing for their lives texted their loved ones goodbye.
“If I don’t make it, I love you, and I appreciate everything you did for me,” the text from Sarah Crescitelli, 15, reads.
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HEARTBREAKING: Text message from student to parent during Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting. Thankfully, this child is safe. pic.twitter.com/YPIz1mRUcq
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) February 15, 2018
Crescitelli wrote the text as she hid in a bathroom at the Parkland, Florida school for two hours, listening as bullets were fired from a semi-automatic rifle. She survived the shooting and was later reunited with her parents.
It is just one of many texts that students sent to their loved ones as suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz rampaged the high school armed with an AR-15 rifle that he had legally bought. In the hours following the deadly rampage, more text messages like Crescitelli’s began to be shared.
A student named Hannah texted her sister Kaitlin for help, pleading for her to call 911.
“Kaitlin I am not joking they just shot through the walls someone [in] my class is injured,” Hannah wrote.
“I love you so much,” Kaitlin replied.
Hannah also survived the shooting.
Parents of some of the students described the terror of finding out about the shooting, Lisette Rozenblatt saying that she was with her husband when they began receiving desperate texts from their daughter informing them what was happening and urging them to stay away.
She kept texting me and she kept saying she was fine, and she was hiding,” Rozenblatt told PEOPLE. “She told me to please call the police because somebody was hurt, and she kept hearing that person crying out for help.”
Police took Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the school, into custody shortly after. He is believed to have entered the school armed with an AR-15, several magazines of ammunition, a gas mask, and smoke grenades, pulling the fire alarm just before dismissal. As students began piling into the hallway, he opened fire, killing 17 and injuring 15.
Law enforcement has announced that Cruz, 19, had legally purchased the automatic rifle about a year ago. He has since been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
