PARKLAND, FL (WTAQ) – “I would not want anyone to live what I lived through.”
A former Green Bay West High School Assistant Principal had a “too close for comfort” perspective on Wednesday’s Florida school shooting.
Nathalie Neree is an administrator with the Broward County School District.
Her son is a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the scene of the deadly bloodbath.
She was in the district office when her son called.
“He said, there’s a shooting happening right now. And I just said run, run, run home, run, just run.”
And that’s what he did…running to safety at a Walmart a half mile away.
Neree says they were finally re-united a couple of hours later. Because of all the law enforcement and heavy traffic in the area it took that long to drive from her office to get him.
“We just kept replaying it, you know ? And he kept saying I’m just happy I’m alive.”
Neree’s son lost a friend and one of his teachers in the shooting.
“My son is alive and I just keep thinking about those 17 other families who are affected forever.”
As for the school district, Neree says staff meetings are going on and counseling is available to those who need it.
“Wow…..I don’t want to live this as a parent and I would never want to live it as an educator.”
And this isn’t her first encounter with school violence either.
Neree was a teacher at Green Bay East High School in 2006 when a plot to shoot up the school by a couple of students was stopped.
Florida Governor Rick Scott says the violence at America’s schools needs to come to an end.
Speaking at a news conference in Parkland this morning, Scott says he is working to ensure that another shooting at a school doesn’t happen again.