PARKLAND, FL – On Friday, Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) led a walk-through of the 1200 Building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the site of a 2018 mass shooting that killed 17 people and wounded 17 others. They were accompanied by families of the victims and a bipartisan group of their congressional colleagues (7):

• Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)
• Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL)
• Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA)
• Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan (D-CA)
• Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL)
• Rep. John Rutherford (R-FL)
• Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL)

The 1200 Building has been frozen in time since the tragedy on Valentine’s Day five years ago. Lawmakers witnessed graphic scenes, including blood-stained floors, broken glass, and scattered homework. Moskowitz and Diaz-Balart organized the tour with Max Schachter, whose son Alex was among the 17 people killed. Following the walk-through, Members and victims’ families participated in a roundtable discussion on school safety at the nearby Marriott Coral Springs, which is the same site where families were informed by law enforcement of their loved ones’ passing.

“When you see tragedies on TV from a thousand feet away, you don’t see what it’s like when a school is turned into a war zone. You can read about it all day, but walking through the building is an unparalleled experience that I believe every person in a position of power should see. It’s the most brutal reminder that we must do so much more to protect our schools and ensure that when parents drop their kids off, they get to come home,” said Congressman Moskowitz, a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional School Safety and Security Caucus.

“After touring Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s 1200 building, one thing is clear: this was probably the most avoidable mass shooting in history. Walking through the halls alongside the families who tragically lost their loved ones on February 14, 2018, to experience the horror, the crime scene, and see the failures that took place that day, is truly horrific. I am grateful to Max Schachter and the families who spent that time with us. As a Member of Congress, school safety remains a top legislative priority, and I am unwavering in my commitment to creating safer classrooms for our students, teachers, and administrators and will continue working in a bipartisan manner to ensure that every community has the tools to identify, deter, and effectively respond to any potential threats,” said Congressman Díaz-Balart.

“Thank you to Reps. Moskowitz and Diaz Balart for leading the Congressional Bipartisan School Safety and Security #WalkthruParkland💔.  I believe the shared experience of walking thru the site of the worst high school shooting in US history impacted the nine members greatly that attended. They now have a meaningful understanding of the failures that occurred in Parkland. I look forward to working with each one of them to enact common sense school safety legislation to make schools safer for all children,” said Max Schachter.

Video of Moskowitz, Diaz-Balart, and Schachter’s roundtable remarks can be viewed here.