The Surviving Victims American Experience That We All See and Tomorrow’S America

School shootings are now a shared friends disappeared from his life. He is The gunman swung by the same The Surviving Victims American experience that we all see and tomorrow’s America. Walmart, where he bought a drink. Denise fear. They happen repeatedly, and we believes she may have been there at the A year after watch the news in horror. The Foote fami- At Stoneman Douglas on that dread- same time. She drove home with that wor- the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, ly has experienced it from the inside. They ful day, a campus monitor finally called a ried feeling in her gut. In her living room, have seen the veneer of American safety code red three minutes after the first gun- she could still hear the sirens. “That was the invisible wounds have not healed, stripped away. shots. Deputies from the Broward County unusual since the hurricane windows usu- but linger amid other devotions. They thought their son’s school was on Sheriff’s Office arrived, but none entered ally block out sound,” she says. She texted top of security. It was not. They thought the building to pursue the shooter, despite Todd at work, and he reassured her. She police would run toward the shooter. They hearing gunfire — another failure, since it turned on the TV to check for breaking did not. In the year following the massa- is standard protocol to move immediately news. None. She called her mother. Then cre, their responses to the events of that toward gunshots, according to the state she looked at the news again and saw it. terrible day, individually and as a fam- report. The killer dropped his weapon and Scrolling across the screen were the heart- ily, took them to very different places. “It left the building, joining a group of stu- stopping words: “Possible shooting at changes you as a person,” Denise says. dents running toward nearby Westglades Marjory Stoneman Douglas.” Todd dramatically changed his politics, Middle School. Denise and Todd had three Panicked, she texted Austin, afraid that becoming a fiery activist. Denise switched children at the middle school. A code red calling would put him in danger. jobs, needing more calm. had been called there, and the kids were “Are you OK?” BY ABIGAIL PESTA ’91 For 15-year-old Austin, only time will huddled under tables, locked in their “Yes,” he said. He was fine for the tell. In the weekend I spent with him, he classrooms. moment, hunkered down behind a Kevlar enise Foote was out shopping for Valentine’s Day stairs, while students on the second floor ran into classrooms. wasn’t ready to say much about his expe- Denise heard sirens wailing as she screen used for marksmanship. Doors treats for her kids when the killing began. Other kids on the third floor evacuated as they would for a fire rience. He loves animals, dreams of joining walked out of the Walmart. “It was so loud, locked, lights off. She wanted to make a big white-chocolate- drill, confused by the alarm. the Air Force, keeps busy with training. He such a commotion,” she says. “As a mom, Communications were slow; Austin chip cookie — her kids’ favorite — in the shape Athletic director Chris Hixon, responding to the gunfire, en- is still coming to terms with the day his I had a bad feeling.” recalls that it took a couple minutes for D of a heart. She picked out the ingredients at the tered the building, got shot and crawled behind a wall. He would Walmart in Parkland, Florida, and nabbed some candies, too, be shot again, never to get up. planning to put them in little tins that her husband, Todd, had 2:23 p.m. bought for the occasion. She pictured a festive evening ahead. More rounds fired, murdering student Carmen Schentrup. The Foote family: Austin, Brandon, Ethan, Jessica, Denise and Todd at the high school in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed. At that moment, a gunman walked through an unlocked gate Assistant football coach Aaron Feis opened a door to the build- in the chain-link fence around Marjory Stoneman Douglas High ing and was shot dead. The shooter walked upstairs and killed School. cross-country coach Scott Beigel as he held open a classroom The couple’s son Austin, a freshman at the school, was sit- door so kids could take cover. The gunman next killed students ting at his desk in biology class. Jaime Guttenberg, Cara Loughran, Joaquin Oliver, Meadow Pol- 2:19 p.m. School was almost out. lack and Peter Wang. The only armed guard on campus failed to A campus monitor spotted the gunman heading for a three- enter the building, opting instead to hide, according to the state story classroom building, Building 12, carrying a rifle bag. The report. monitor recognized the youth as a former student — a troubled Austin Foote sat in class in the biology building, unaware of kid he had once discussed as a potential school shooter at a the carnage next door. He thought it was odd to hear a fire alarm staff meeting — but he did not call a code red, which would since the school had already performed a fire drill that day. His have put the school on lockdown. Instead, he radioed another class got up to evacuate, and when he stepped outside, he heard campus monitor, who also recognized the gunman, and saw the gunfire. “I couldn’t tell where it was coming from,” he says. him enter the building. Still no code red. The failure to call for a He makes a rapid, whizzing sound to describe it. His classmates lockdown was one of many security lapses that day, according ran for cover in the Junior ROTC building. He had no idea that to the January 2019 report of the state public safety commis- on that day, February 14, 2018, five of his friends would not sion that investigated the attack. leave the school alive. 2:21 p.m. The first shots. I meet with the Foote family in January of this year, a month Firing his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle into the hallway, the before the first anniversary of the shooting. They’re sitting gunman killed students Martin Duque, Luke Hoyer and Gina around the living room, a soothing oasis of teals and blues, with Montalto. The gunfire triggered a fire alarm due to dust falling sea-themed artwork and an abundance of pillows — excellent from the ceiling. He shot into classrooms, killing students Alys- building blocks for forts, the family’s four kids tell me. A tiger sa Alhadeff, Alaina Petty, Alex Schachter, Nicholas Dworet and cat peeks out from under a chair. A sunny porch is decked out Helena Ramsay. Someone called 911. The call got routed from with Notre Dame paraphernalia, including a “Play Like a Cham- one call center to another, slowing the response. Kids in a third- pion Today” banner. It’s a man cave, Todd says. He got his MBA floor classroom of Building 12 heard gunshots and fled for the from Notre Dame in 2002. Abby Pesta, a former intern with this magazine, has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Atlantic and Newsweek. She is the author of The Girls: An All-American Town, a Predatory Doctor, and the Untold Story of the Gymnasts Who Brought Him Down and coauthor of How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child. PHOTOGRapHY BY BENJAMIN RUSNAK 18 NOTRE DAME MAGAZINE S PRING 2 0 1 9 19 a text to go through. Denise called Todd popped out cookies for a quarter apiece. Therapists volunteered their services, and ‘You want to and texted the kids at the middle school, Another time, he built a go-kart, fashion- Austin went to see one, but wasn’t ready but could reach only her daughter, hiding ing an engine out of an electric drill. “It to talk. take the pain under a table. The gunman remained on was epic for 10 minutes,” he says. Then Todd says he “flipped a switch” after off your kid, the loose, pausing at a McDonald’s before the engine died, stinking up the garage. talking to Austin. He had been horrified moving on. All the kids are creative. Jessica, a sev- by shootings in the past, but then had but what can Todd rushed home, police cars flying enth grader, plays the French horn. Austin, gone back to his life. This time, he felt a you say?’ says past him. Austin stayed hidden until a now a sophomore, plays guitar. Eighth- call to fight. He sat down at his computer, SWAT team banged on the door. “Everyone grader Brandon plans to try out for his furiously typing up an uncharacteristic Todd. ‘What is started freaking out,” he says. “We had to first school play, Legally Blonde. When talk Facebook post. “I used to always be really a dad supposed walk out with our hands up and leave our turns to the shooting, Brandon and Jessica careful with what I said,” he notes. “No backpacks. I was smart and grabbed my speak freely. Jessica says she advised a more. I just let loose.” to say to his glasses and phone.” He texted his friend friend to play dead if a gunman came. “No In the lengthy post, the lifelong Repub- son after five of Alaina. No reply. Then he began walking one was allowed to leave the room,” she lican wrote, “You can’t imagine how hard home, helicopters hovering overhead.

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