Parkland Survivors Experience Another School Shooting at FSU

Two people are dead and another is in custody while at least six others receive treatment at a nearby hospital following a shooting at Florida State University (FSU) Thursday afternoon, according to NBC News.

"I was walking and this guy pulls up in an orange Hummer," one student who saw the shooter told the news outlet. "And he gets out with a rifle and shoots in my direction." He said he was wearing an orange T-shirt and khaki shorts.

The first report of a shooting on the campus in Tallahassee came in around noon. Videos captured students running across campus and hiding in classrooms. Photos showed students' items left on the campus lawn as shots rang out near the student union.

The active shooting happened hours before a "United Against Hate" event was scheduled to begin. The event planned to honor 21-year-old Maura Binkley, an FSU senior who was one of two people killed in a November 2018 Tallahassee hot yoga studio shooting.

At around 3:30 p.m., FSU announced that "law enforcement has neutralized the threat," but noted that multiple buildings were still "active crime scenes."

As word spread about the shooting, people were quick to point out that many FSU students survived the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland just seven years earlier, on February 14, 2018.

"There are kids from my high school in Parkland, FL who were freshmen during the MSD shooting and are now seniors at FSU during the current mass shooting," Cameron Kasky, a Parkland shooting survivor and cofounder of March for Our Lives, posted on X. "Welcome to Florida, welcome to America."

There are kids from my high school in Parkland, FL who were freshmen during the MSD shooting and are now seniors at FSU during this current mass shooting.

Welcome to Florida, welcome to America.

— Cameron Kasky (@camkasky) April 17, 2025

One student tells the Tallahassee Democrat that as he was hiding in a small room in a classroom, another student, who survived the Parkland shooting, came in and said, "Man, I never thought this would happen again."

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was among the 17 students and staff murdered in the 2018 Parkland shooting, wrote on X that many of her friends who survived that shooting were inside the student union as the shooting unfolded today.

"America is broken," he said. "My daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Many of her friends who were lucky enough to survive that shooting went on to attend FSU. Incredibly, some of them were just a part of their 2nd school shooting and some were in the student union today. As a father, all I ever wanted after the Parkland shooting was to help our children be safe. Sadly, because of the many people who refuse to do the right things about reducing gun violence, I am not surprised by what happened today."

America is broken. My daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. Many of her friends who were lucky enough to survive that shooting went on to attend FSU. Incredibly, some of them were just a part of their 2nd school shooting and some were in the student…

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 17, 2025

One former Stoneman student spent his 21st birthday escaping his second school shooting.

"When I woke up this morning, I did not imagine having to spend my 21st birthday checking on loved ones and marking myself safe from yet another act of gun violence," Logan Rubenstein, who has advocated for gun reform since the Parkland shooting, wrote on X. "I grew up in Parkland and was in 8th grade at the time of the shooting. And now we have to go through this again."

When I woke up this morning, I did not imagine having to spend my 21st birthday checking on loved ones and marking myself safe from yet another act of gun violence.

I grew up in Parkland and was in 8th grade at the time of the shooting. And now we have to go through this again.

— Logan Rubenstein (@loganrub_17) April 17, 2025

In a December 2019 Medium essay reflecting on the Parkland shooting titled The Need for Peace, Rubenstein expressed fear that his future could hold yet another shooting. "I find myself never truly feeling safe when outside, fearing if 'it' happens again," he wrote. "And I'm not the only one, all across the greatest country in the world, kids are forced to fear the threat of gun violence."

Back in 2014, a gunman, who police later killed, opened fire at FSU. Myron May, a lawyer and FSU alumnus, wounded three people during the shooting.