At least 1,000 people have attended a candlelight vigil for the 17 victims of a school shooting in Florida.
Some people openly sobbed as the victims’ names were read aloud at the vigil near the school in Parkland on Thursday night.
Dressed in the school’s red colours, some held flowers while others wielded signs asking for action to fight school violence, including gun control.
Students gather to grieve during a vigil (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
“Kids don’t need guns. No guns under 21,” read one sign.
At one point during the vigil, some in the crowd began shouting, “No more guns! No more guns!”
READ MORE: Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz ‘member of white nationalist group’
The vigil started with a moment of silence for victims and candles were lit.
Joey Kandil, 18, a recent graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, places a ring around a candle on one of seventeen crosses (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Ernest Rospierski, a teacher at the school, took several bracing breaths at the vigil as he talked to a reporter about the horror in the school halls.
“Bang bang bang – all of a sudden the shooting stopped,” he said. “I looked down. He was reloading. I yelled run. And then I ran behind as many kids as I could.”
Attendees raise their candles (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
An orphaned 19-year-old who participated in paramilitary drills with a white nationalist group has been charged with murder over the 17 deaths.
READ MORE: Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz ‘member of white nationalist group’
Nikolas Cruz legally purchased the AR-15 rifle used in the assault at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, law enforcement officials said.
A woman places roses on a stage during the vigil (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A Florida judge ordered that the suspect be held without bail on 17 counts of murder.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here