Demolition of the Parkland classroom building where 17 died in 2018 shooting is set to begin

By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — A crew is scheduled to begin tearing down the three-story classroom building where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland, Florida’s, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The victims’ families have been invited to watch the first blows and hammer off a piece themselves Friday if they choose. Officials plan to complete the weekslong project before the school’s 3,300 students return in August from summer vacation. Most were in elementary school when the shooting happened. The building had been kept up to serve as evidence at the shooter’s 2022 penalty trial. Jurors toured its bullet-pocked and blood-stained halls, but spared him a death sentence. He’s serving a term of life without parole.