A man who shot up his New York school as a teenager has praised the activist students from Parkland, Florida.
At only 16, Jon Romano took a pump-action shotgun to his high school in New York and opened fire. Luckily, no one was killed and only one teacher was injured, as Romano was quickly brought down by the school’s principal.
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In a letter to the New York Times, Romano said that he applauds the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student activists who are “courageous and inspiring for demanding action from politicians.”
He also expressed his gratitude to his former principal, a man Romano call “a hero who I owe my life to,” for stopping him, otherwise “a lot of people would have been dead,” Time reports.
Survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting and many of their supporters rallied at the high school on Feb. 21 to protest a lack of gun legislation.
One week after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and opened fire, killing 17 students and teachers, the survivors of the shooting were protesting in an effort to persuade lawmakers to enforce stricter gun laws.
Cruz was charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, one for each of the people he confessed to killing.
Many went to the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee to protest.
Seventeen student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School lie down on the floor in silence and pray at the approximate time of the attack one week ago, inside the state capitol, today in Tallahassee, Fla. | Photo Gerald Herbert pic.twitter.com/JwBimJUojs
— AP Images (@AP_Images) February 21, 2018
Those who could not attend started their own rally at the high school.
Some survivors of the shooting have taken to speaking out about their experience and are using their new platform to call for a revaluation of gun control laws.
#LIVE Groups gather at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL for a memorial and rally https://t.co/zxqRfmvNPp
— NBC 15 (@mynbc15) February 21, 2018
Following the tragedy, Florida Gov. Rick Scott called for a review of mental health reforms.
“Next week in Tallahassee, I’m going sit down with state leaders, we’re going have a real conversation about two things: How do we make sure when a parent is ready to send their child to school, in Florida, that parent knows that child is going to be safe?” Scott said during a joint news conference.
“Number two: How do we make sure that this individual with mental illness does not touch a gun? We need to have a real conversation so we have public safety for our schools in this state,” Scott continued.
“They’re committed to provide the resources and have a real conversation about how do we make sure we have public safety. I want to make sure that my children, my grandchildren, yours, everybody in this state, can wake up and be safe. I’m going to stay here and do everything I can,” Scott added.
