Living A Nightmare
For the players and coaches of Stoneman Douglas’ boys and girls' lacrosse teams on Feb. 14, the minutes felt like hours and hours felt like days. It was supposed to be a normal day at school — Valentine’s Day — but it turned into one they’ll never forget.
Students at Stoneman Douglas had a fire drill earlier that day, so when the alarm rang again, there was no panic. Junior Josh Gallagher headed into the hallway and toward the stairwell in Building 700, adjacent to the freshman building. That’s when he heard gunshots ringing out near the stairwell.
He rushed back toward his classroom, but he said the door was locked. He and a number of his classmates were stuck in the hallway and could hear the horror so close to them. He eventually found shelter in another classroom.
“It’s not something you ever want to go through,” Gallagher said. “It’s not something you ever want to experience.”
Gallagher’s teammate, Jack Haimowitz, had to walk over a coach’s body to exit the building.
Brodsky and Bonchick, who were in separate parts of the building, evacuated and headed toward the nearby middle school. They began texting teammates to make sure each was safe.
“‘Yeah, my classroom just got shot at,” teammates texted Brodsky. “‘My window is shattered.’”
No one knew the extent of the damage. All they could do was run amid the sound of gunshots.
“We didn’t know if there were multiple people or if there was one in the freshman building and one somewhere else,” Brodsky said. “Who knew? The sound just carried.”
Emily Mox, whose brother was in the freshman building and texted her that it was not a drill, jumped onto the team group chat, answering teammates like Lauren Figas, who messaged, "What is happening?"
The sound of sirens and helicopters filled the air shortly after — an indication of the seriousness of what everyone had just experienced. Once news of the shooting that left 17 dead began to spread, Fenton and Burton worried for their players.
Fenton, who works with children with special needs, was not at Stoneman Douglas. She got a call from one of her seniors, letting her know what was happening at school. She turned on the television and watched the news of the shooting trickle in.
"The first thing I thought was that those were 19 of what feels like my daughters, my little lacrosse children,” Fenton said. “I was already emotional at that point because I wasn’t really sure what was going on and if my girls were OK.”
She wanted to drive to school to be with her players, but was encouraged to stay away, so she headed home with her assistant coach. She texted the team captains to account for each player. It took hours to make sure her team was safe.
Still three hours after the shooting, Burton had six players unaccounted for. He reached out to all 40 or so players in his program, but some had to leave their phones in the building.
“The biggest thing was that you wanted an instant notification that they’re OK, and it took some six hours to find out about some those guys,” he said.
Fenton and Burton had made sure their teams were safe, but it was just the beginning of a week they’d never forget. Each met with their teams in the coming days, and called each parent personally to check in.
Some players wanted to talk. Some were not ready. All the coaches could do was be present.
The next week was filled with viewings and funerals for friends and families. Brodsky lost two close friends in Joaquin Oliver and Meadow Pollack. Others lost friends of family and former coaches.
Some players attended up to three funerals in one day. Stoneman Douglas was supposed to be starting its seasons, but its players were living a nightmare.
“It was a sick itinerary really, looking back at it,” Burton said. “It was just an email for a whole week of services here and viewings here, and that went on for five or six days. You look back on it now and it’s like ‘Holy [crap]. This was one whole week.’”
“It’s rough having to go to your friends’ viewings and funerals and having to see their families,” senior Ryan Ditsch said. “You’re not replaying it, but you have to rethink it.”
It took over a week for the boys' and girls' lacrosse teams to get back to practice on a regular basis, but it was needed. After what they had been through, lacrosse was something to which to look forward.
Fenton and Burton watched as teams across the state paid tribute to their teams and the 17 victims. The support was “overwhelming,” but both coaches just wanted to get back on the field with their teams.
“Playing lacrosse helps,” Bonchick said. “You’re with all of your friends, your teammates. It helps cope with the pain a bit, just being able to play the sport you love."