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I lost my daughter in the Valentine's Day school massacre
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20 minutes before the end of the school day, a former student smashed the glass to the window of her classroom
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She tried to hide under her desk. My daughter didn't have a chance
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neither did the 16 others that lost their life that day. Active shooter reported a teen's tragic lives
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now on the 10th in American history. It's just really hard because she should still be here
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Talk us through, if you can, the morning of February 14th, 2018. What happened at Alyssa's school
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I'm Lori and I am the CEO of a non-profit, Make Our Schools Safe, and school board member
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And I'm Alyssa's mom. Our three children are Alyssa, Robbie, and Kobe. Family life for me
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before Valentine's Day 2018. I was a soccer mom. We lived a very normal life here in Parkland
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Describe your daughter Alyssa for us. She was an all-American girl. She had an amazing laugh and she was very outgoing
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She just had such zest for life. Alyssa's friends described her as beautiful
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Alyssa's friends loved her so much. Alyssa had many interests and hobbies
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She loved shopping, going to the beach and riding the waves. She was on the debate team
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She was on the track team and she was the captain of her soccer team. Alyssa enjoyed hanging out with her friends
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I don't know how much she enjoyed actual schoolwork, but she was a great student and she aspired
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to go on to college and possibly be a lawyer. I've had many fond memories with Alyssa
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We went into New York City together, and we were going to go to the 9-11 Memorial
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And it was just such a beautiful day and time that I spent with her
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And on the way home Alyssa put her head on my shoulder and she fell asleep We moved here to Parkland from New Jersey and we moved here because it was considered the safest city the Parkland community
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We are very united and very family orientated. I never had any concerns sending my kids to school
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I always felt that they were safe and they were getting an excellent education
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Talk us through, if you can, the morning of February 14, 2018, before Alyssa left for school
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It was Valentine's Day, and Alyssa looked so beautiful. She was wearing a black and white dress
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When I dropped Alyssa off, I gave her a gold bag with chocolate bar and diamond earrings inside of it
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because I knew Alyssa didn't have a valentine, and I was hoping to cheer her up, and I think I did
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The last words I said to Alyssa was, I love you. And she left and went off to school
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And I could never imagine that would be the last time I would see Alyssa alive
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I was here in my house and I got a text message from my friend saying
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shots fired at Stoneman Douglas High School, kids running and jumping the fence
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My body just went into complete shock. I couldn't think. the only thing I actually could think was I need to get to Alyssa. And I did have this sense of
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something is drastically wrong. I got in my car. I drove as fast as I could. I just remember
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passing through stop signs, driving my car onto a sidewalk because there was traffic
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and got in my car, just started running towards Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School
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Everybody just didn't really know what was going on. There was police officers everywhere
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We were just in shock. Alyssa's best friend, Abby, came and got a text message from a friend saying that Alyssa was injured
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And I fell to the ground and in complete trauma and pain and just hoping that Alyssa would still be alive
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We were finally called into a room and was told by the FBI that Alyssa was murdered
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It was the most horrific feeling I've ever felt in my life
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and it is the worst news that a parent could ever receive
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that their child is taken in school. Talk us through the final moments you spent with Alyssa
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You know, reflecting back that morning on Valentine's Day, I just love being able to have those final moments
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to just share and love her and touch her
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It's just really hard because she should still be here. I went to the morgue with my husband and my parents
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and then we physically got to see Alyssa. and it was awful to see her that way and then we went to Pine Charles Park where everybody was
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gathering and we just went there because you know we didn't really know what to do and it was
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you know just trying to make sense of what what was happening. How would you describe your family's
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grief in the weeks and months after Alyssa's death. It just was kind of mindless and traumatic
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in the sense where you can't even really process that Alyssa's gone. It just was
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the most horrific thing one could ever go through. We decided very quickly after Alyssa funeral to take action The organization we set up is to make our schools safe What we hope to achieve is to create a school where students are protected and there is a culture of safety within the school
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We have Moss Clubs, student-led safety clubs, and high schools. We've given back close to a million
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dollars already to schools for school safety projects, and we've now passed Alyssa's Law in
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10 states, which is a panic button schools, and our goal is to pass in every state and every school
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around the country. Today we're going to the playground I built in Alyssa's memory to meet
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one of the interns from Make Our School Safe. Hey, Nana. How are you? Come look at Alyssa's
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playground. Let me show you around. Nana reached out to me and she's able to work directly with me
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to make change and help me with different initiatives with Make Our Schools Safe
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I built this playground to honor Alyssa and knowing that kids can come here and play
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and have so much fun and laugh. Alyssa had a beautiful laugh. Alyssa is everywhere within
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this playground. You know, Alyssa's passion, she played soccer, and when you turn the eight
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sideways it's the infinity symbol so her memory will always be forever
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Beautiful. I love seeing the younger generations taking up make our school
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safe. They are a voice. They can make such an impact and difference in their
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schools. I lived in Parkland my entire life and I saw how deeply the shooting
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affected my own community and how this community rebuilt after that and I just
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wanted to be a part of that. I am very hopeful for the future that Nana and her peers are making
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impact and creating a culture of safety within their school. I have been so inspired by Lori
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and her family's courage. I think that what she has done is so beautiful and I hope to follow in
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her footsteps. Thank you
