Second Parkland School Shooting Survivor Dies by Apparent Suicide
Earlier this month, Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Sydney Aiello died by suicide. According to her mother, she had been diagnosed with PTSD.
A second survivor of last year's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has reportedly died by suicide.
A 17-year-old Parkland sophomore reportedly died by suicide Saturday night, according to comments given to the Miami Herald by Coral Springs police. The student's name has not been released yet. Per additional local reports, the death is under investigation.
In a series of tweets Sunday, Parkland shooting survivor and March for Our Lives activist David Hogg urged for more open communication on dealing with trauma. He also tagged Trump, criticizing the money he throws away on frivolousness like Mar-a-Lago trips instead of making a real push for mental health reform.
The previous weekend, Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Sydney Aiello died by suicide. As revealed by her family in subsequent reports, Aiello had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Her friend, Meadow Pollack, was one of the 17 people whose lives were taken when 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on campus with a semi-automatic rifle last February.
Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the nationwide March for Our Lives, a movement helmed by young people—including Parkland survivors—that aims to put sensible gun safety reform at the forefront of the political discourse.
In the wake of the community's most recent devastating losses, local and state leaders are calling for serious discussions about how preventable tragedies of this nature affect survivors' mental health. "We need to remove the stigma from talking about suicide," Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said.
