‘Frozen with fear’: Ga. teens were on Florida State campus during deadly shooting
ATLANTA, Ga. - Students from Drew Charter School in Atlanta were at Florida State University when shots rang out Thursday afternoon.
Shortly after 12 p.m., the university posted an alert of an “active shooter” in the area of the Student Union. For hours, the university advised those on campus to seek shelter and await further instructions.
Tenth graders from Drew Charter School were visiting the Tallahassee campus at the time, Drew Charter officials said in a letter to families.
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By early Friday, memorials of candles and flowers dotted the campus and a school-wide vigil had been scheduled as students and faculty tried to start healing from the previous day’s shooting, which sent shockwaves of fear across the campus.
The students and their chaperones sheltered in place for hours.
The suspected shooter was eventually taken into custody. Two people were killed and at least six others were hurt.
The 10th graders arrived back home Thursday night and reunited with their relieved parents.
Drew Charter sophomore Asante Hodges recorded their time in lockdown on his cellphone, and said they were sheltering in place for three hours.
Asante and his classmate Noah Sallee said they had a group of 45 students and five chaperones. The students said they had just finished lunch and were headed to the student center where the shooting broke out.
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“‘Distraught’ is an understatement. I don’t have a word for it,” Hodges said. “I really didn’t know what to do. I was almost frozen with fear, but something came over me and I just knew I had to run... The interesting thing about it, if we had left on time – we were like four minutes late – if we had left on time, we would’ve been right there at the shooting. And just knowing that is like the scariest thing.”
The high schoolers said they relied on FSU students for information during the hourslong lockdown.
“Very grateful. I feel like I’m very lucky. Obviously there are people who were not nearly as fortunate as we were, so I feel very empathetic,” Sallee said.
Drew Charter students said they arrived at FSU Wednesday and had planned to stay one night and leave FSU on Thursday. From there students would head to Florida A&M University, also in Tallahassee, for another college tour.
Asante’s father Melvin Hodges is thankful to be able to hug his son.
“Relieved, and just upset. Upset that these are the types of things that are becoming so commonplace for our children as they grow up. Just really sad,” Melvin Hodges said.
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Asante also shares in that same frustration.
“The most triggering thing is the anger. We, as students, came to Florida State to think about a reality that we would have, something beautiful that we can make ourselves, and instead we were given what the lawmakers gave us,” said Asante.
“To hide out, it’s not fair. I’m just really mad about it. It’s not something that we deserve,” added Asante.
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