Max Schachter comments on Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit to Parkland.
By Kevin Deutsch
Max Schachter, whose son Alex was murdered in the 2018 Parkland massacre, took to social media Friday to defend Vice President Kamala Harris’ upcoming visit to the shooting site.
“I am grateful that the Vice President of the United States is taking time to come to Parkland to bear witness to what happened to my little boy,” Schachter wrote on Facebook and X. “This is not a political visit. She is the Vice President of the United States, and she has an obligation to come to Parkland.”
Schachter’s message came in the wake of some critical comments on social media, where some commenters blasted Harris’ planned Saturday visit to the shooting scene as inappropriate. An online petition was also circulating aimed at preventing Harris’ visit.
Other public officials and delegations previously toured the site at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School without attracting the same level of criticism.
Harris was asked to visit the site by Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the shooting. The vice president plans to visit the scene and also meet with families who lost loved ones in the February 14, 2018, attack, which killed 17 students and teachers.
The vice president’s Parkland visit is a continuation of her advocating for significant gun safety measures and follows Biden’s recent remarks on his administration’s determination to tackle gun violence.
“I am writing this post to correct misinformation surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit to Parkland tomorrow,” Schachter wrote in his Facebook post. “After the shooting, I made it my life’s mission to make schools safer and prevent other families from experiencing my pain. I worked with President Donald J. Trump closely when he was in office. I now work with President Joe Biden and his administration.”
After the shooting, Broward’s district attorney sealed off the building where the killings happened – the 1200 building – to preserve the crime scene while criminal cases against the killer, Nikolas Cruz, and a deputy who remained outside during the shooting played out.
No one was allowed into the building except for jurors the first 5 1/2 years after the shooting, according to Schachter. Once the trials were finished, the victims’ families were asked if they wanted to walk through the building.
“I was one of the first families that entered,” Schachter wrote. “My wife saw how traumatized I was seeing Alex’s blood all over the floor of his classroom. It is unlike any other crime scene. It has been frozen in time since the day of the shooting.”
Schachter said that nothing has been removed from the site, and it has not been cleaned.
“There’s blood everywhere. It was Valentine’s Day, so there were balloons, cards, and candy in every classroom.”
Schachter said he’s had many conversations and given many presentations with leaders across the country, “but there is no way to replicate what one sees and experiences when they walk through the site” of the shooting.
“It profoundly affects people. They emerge determined to prevent another tragedy. After walking [through] the building I set out on a mission to have as many school, law enforcement, state and federal officials walk [through] the building before it was demolished. I couldn’t save Alex, but every time an official walks through the building, lives are saved, and schools are safer.”
Florida will be the 16th state Harris has visited in her campaign against gun violence since the start of 2024, according to the White House.
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