Parkland, FL – Prayers In Parkland: Jewish Teens Still Missing, Others In Critical Condition

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    In this frame grab from video provided by WPLG-TV, students from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., evacuate the school following a shooting, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. (WPLG-TV via AP)Parkland, FL – Hours after the devastating shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at least two Jewish teens remain unaccounted for, while several critically injured Jewish high schoolers are undergoing surgery.

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    Rabbi Shuey Biston, outreach and program director for Chabad of Parkland, located just five miles from the school, said that approximately 30 percent of Parkland’s residents are Jewish.

    “I know 250 kids in that school,” Rabbi Biston told VIN News. “As soon as I heard about the shooting I went running over. They were evacuating kids from different buildings and kids that I knew came running over to me, giving me hugs, calling their parents and telling me which kids they had seen and were safe.”

    One of those students told Rabbi Biston that after hearing a loud noise, students ran out into a corridor, only to be greeted by what sounded like a machine gun.

    “They ran back into the classroom and barricaded the door,” said Rabbi Biston. “He told me that they heard kids outside in the hallway screaming for help and that when they finally were escorted to safety by the SWAT team an hour later they saw no less than 15 bodies lying on the floor.”

    Rabbi Biston described the situation at the school as “a mob scene.”

    “I’ve seen things like this on the news but you can’t even imagine what it is like in real life,” observed Rabbi Biston.

    Two Jewish girls have yet to be accounted for and searches in local hospitals have so far been fruitless.

    “One girl, her brother’s bar mitzvah was at our Chabad just two months ago,” said Rabbi Biston. “We have gone to all the hospitals and right now are fearing the worst.”

    “They are still waiting to identify her,” added Rabbi Mendy Gutnik, educational director at Chabad of Parkland, who was also on scene after the shooting. “They believe she is still at the school.”

    Parents whose children are still unaccounted for were taken to the Marriot Heron Bay to await news of their missing loved ones. Rabbi Gutnick was on hand at the hotel, providing emotional support to those who were gathered there. A team of ten volunteers from Florida’s Chesed Shel Emes is also in Parkland, offering their services at the Marriot, the school and local hospitals.

    Director Mark Rosenberg said that reports from the school and the hospital are sobering and that he anticipates that it will be a long night for Chesed Shel Emes.

    “Right now there are a lot of unconfirmed reports but all that could change so for now, we still have to hope as time goes by,” said Rosenberg. “We are fearing the worst but hoping for the best.”


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    15 Comments
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    PaulinSaudi
    PaulinSaudi
    6 years ago

    “My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”

    –President Donald J Trump

    Normal
    Normal
    6 years ago

    I’m so so so angry. It’s like me giving YOUR small child loaded guns to play with and then everyone is amazed when they die. In Australia no-one has guns (except criminals who don’t shoot civilians) and this never happens.

    6 years ago

    Oy gevald! What a tragedy! We need to safeguard all schools that are entrusted with our young, innocent children. We live in a world where insanity reigns. The disgruntled for whatever reason loonies must be barred from stepping foot on any school premises, by whatever it takes, at whatever the cost. Metal detectors, guards, locked doors, safety glass. Keep em out. Let them shoot a bullet through their own skulls.

    hashomer
    hashomer
    6 years ago

    Saaad, so saaad. More blood on NRA-GOP heads as they promote military level weapons on our streets. Tragic.

    Masmid2
    Masmid2
    6 years ago

    The USA has some really messed up gun laws. Deeply rooted gun culture that just claims so many innocent lives. The NRA control everything.

    6 years ago

    To #2 - Not true what you said about Australia; some 15 years ago, an Aussie went on a rampage with a rifle, and killed nearly 30 civilians.

    6 years ago

    I agree with #3-(Rachel) and disagree with #5 . We must have metal detectors and armed guards in all of our schools. This should have been done a long time ago, especially after Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Virginia Tech. In Israel, they have such security at their schools. There has not been a mass shooting incident at anyy Israeli school, since Maalot, in 1974. America better wake up, and do something, now. Incidentally, Trump doesn’t like armchair psychiatrists analyzing his mental fitness, from afar. Yet, he has the gall to send out one of his famous tweets, stating that the shooter had mental problems. When that lunatic shooter is finally brought to trial, his defense attorney will use Trump’s tweet, to show that his client has mental problems. For once, can’t Trump just refrain from his tweets? I know that he can’t refrain from eating excessively, but surely he can refrain from his scholarly tweets, at a sad time, such as this!

    AmYisroel
    AmYisroel
    6 years ago

    in Chicago the city with the most restrictive gun laws in america 267 people have been shot with 52 killed since January 1st