A survivor of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting was forced to shelter in place Saturday after a gunman opened fire at Brown University.
Zoe Weissman, 20, said she immediately realized there was a shooting when a friend called her around 4:15 p.m. and told her to shelter in place.
“I think mentally, you know, I feel like I’m 12 again. This just feels exactly like how I felt in 2018,” Weissman, a Brown sophomore, told MS Now. “But honestly, I’m really angry. I’m really angry that this is happening to me all over again, and I’m just in shock.”
She said she stayed inside her room while keeping her family informed about what was happening.
“There’s already students who survived the school shooting in Oxford in Michigan, and then went to Michigan State and survived another school shooting,” she said. “This isn’t a new phenomenon, and we’re going to get to a point where there’s people like myself who survived two of these.”
Weissman said no one in the U.S. is safe from gun violence until lawmakers take action.
On Feb. 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others.
“I think that my experience is so important because it shows that no one is safe from this until our congresspeople actually decide to do something and care about children, care about their constituents, care about people in this country,” Weissman said. “This will continue to happen, and there will be more people like me who have survived several school shootings.”
‘Deeply tragic’
A suspect described only as a man dressed in black opened fire at Brown University during finals week inside the Barus & Holley building, which houses several laboratories.
Providence Deputy Chief of Police Tim O’Hara said the suspect fled the scene on foot. Mayor Brett Smiley ordered a shelter-in-place for students and residents near the campus.
“We have all available resources to find the suspect,” Smiley said.
Brown University President Christina H. Paxson released a statement following the shooting.
“This is a deeply tragic day for Brown, our families, and our local community,” Paxson said. “There are truly no words that can express the deep sorrow we are feeling for the victims of the shooting that took place today at the Barus & Holley engineering and physics building.
“We lost two community members today who were fatal victims of the shooting, and at this point, we know there are at least eight additional victims who were transported to the hospital. In this moment, they are in critical but stable condition, but this is an evolving situation. Our hearts are with their families.”
President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he had been briefed on the incident, writing, “God bless the victims and the families of the victims!”
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