What is the school doing to help you and other students struggling with this event? I'm assuming you have days off, but are there counselors and resources for you?

Yes, yesterday the whole day they had counselors at the local park in the auditorium inside. I believe they are still there today, I haven't went yet but I am going to go later this weekend once I'm done seeing all the people that want to see me. At this same park, there was a vigil that was streamed live to the world yesterday that I was at. During the main event, I was standing with 4 of my classmates who were there with me in the classroom as it was happening.

Hey guys, /u/Shaine_Memes private messaged me a question that I thought should be answered to the public.

Did the fire alarm really go off? The news has said that the fire alarm went off right before this happened but from what I’ve seen you say, there’s no mention of it.

Yes, the fire alarm did go off. Despite beliefs, the fire alarm went off about 10-15 seconds AFTER he started shooting, I remember clearly. People across the school couldn't tell however, so they were treating it like a regular fire drill until word got around within a minute and everyone rushed back into their classrooms.

Strong kid. I hope you manage to cope well and get through the tough times ahead, and help the others too. Thanks for giving us your insight, it's very valuable and appreciated.

How is your teacher, Mrs. Schamis, holding up? To be in a position of responsibility during an event like this, I can't even imagine.

Thanks for doing this, and keep well.

I saw her yesterday during the vigil. She was talking to two of my current teachers and some of my old teachers from freshman year, and as soon as she saw me she said "everyone, this child right here is a hero!" and I was astounded because I never thought that I could be looked at as a hero. I didn't save any lives, I didn't jump in front of a bullet; the only thing I did was try to calm and quiet people around me. That is no hero, that is just what you should do as someone in that situation.

Shaking right now. All this support is unreal. One thing I noticed when I start to go into detail about my experience (I've done this almost 100+ times at this point) is that I start shaking uncontrollably like im freezing... is there some way I can stop this? /r/LPT I'm calling for your advice.

Taking a small break to go get some fresh air at the pool with my bro, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I will answer more questions later :)

**Deleting my comments and throwaway account now for privacy. Just needed to express my condolences to OP and relay my advice on coping with the grief. Also, don't want to detract too much from the OP's AMA or prevent him from sharing his experiences.

TLDR; I was there. Glad you're safe. Talk about it. We're always here for you.

Sir, I REMEMBER YOU. I'm fucking crying right now I can't believe that you have seen this. You are a hero sir, I am SO thankful for your service. I was in a white/light gray sweatshirt if that helps you remember which individual I was. Man... this is crazy.

I am a Parkland resident, I moved here right before freshman year. I used to live in Boca Raton for 14 years of my life.

From reading some of your comments, you seemed to be so poised and collected in the situation. Would you consider yourself to have always been that way, or do you think the situation brought something new out of you? Glad you're okay!

I always thought about situations like this and how I would act. I always thought that I would freak out, but surprisingly, I was very calm but shaken while it was going on. I tried my absolute hardest to make sure everyone surrounding me was ok and made sure they stayed quiet so we could have a better chance of surviving, and made sure the girl next to me (Kelly) was saying the right things to 911 as she was talking to an operator. She was crying HYSTERICALLY and couldn't even get words out of her mouth so I was calming her down and telling her what to tell the operator because her thought process must have been in thousands of pieces just by the look of her face.

People react differently in high-stress situations. My friend and I were in a scary car accident. I immediately went into "emergency mode" (check if everyone's ok, call 911, answer questions), but my friend was crying hysterically. Staying collected under pressure is a valuable trait. Ever considered a career that needs people like that, such as an EMT, surgeon, or public relations specialist?

I haven't necessarily ever wanted to BE one of those, but I have always pondered on what they do and how they go about their jobs, it's interesting to me. I actually aspire to be a producer for hip-hop music if that answers your question, I'm an active commenter on /r/hiphopheads, great sub for anyone interested in hip hop btw!

Hey Sid, I'm in electronic & independent music but friends with a lot of producers. If you wanna join our Discord or chat and come talk about producing and engineering or get feedback on stuff you've made, send me a DM. Hope you're doing well, bud. <3

I will definitely hit you up soon man, right now is not the time though! Thank you so much this is awesome.

Sid, Firstly I am glad you're OK, and I am sorry for what you had to experience. What was the tone of the situation like when you heard the first couple of shots? Were people trying to convince themselves it was a firework or a car back fire? Or did you know immediately it was gun fire and how did the students in your classroom react? Thanks!

Well no one even hesitated at all, we all got up and ran to a corner, but a few of us were muttering "Is this one of those school shooter drills?" A few seconds after that, the shots started going off into our room and I saw dust flying around the room and knew that this was serious. About a minute after the shooting stopped in our room, I look over to my right and in the opposite corner, a girl named Samantha had blood all over her face and her eye was swolen (I believe a bullet grazed her face), but she is luckily ok. I couldn't see Nick or Helena's body because a cabinet was in the way. All I can tell you is that I remember the first 10 or so shots going off right outside of our door and the memory of the sound hasn't faded whatsoever.

[removed]

She's an absolutely awesome teacher. I love the detail she goes into about every subject that comes up in class. I remember when we switched into her class this semester (we had a different teacher for Holocaust History last semester), I thought she talked too much the first day but I've gotten used to it. Now that this has happened, I want to hear her blabber all day until my head explodes.

Did you know the perpetrator at all? What was the general opinion of him/was he in school days previous to this?

I didn't know him, but I remember seeing him around the halls freshman year. He was a very "different" individual. He would wear military boots, wear a hat and always kept his head low and was just all-around "janky", if thats a good word to describe him.

What was going through your mind? Anything, nothing, praying, please not me? I can't imagine being in a horrible situation like this, and I have no idea what I would be thinking while it was going on.

Well as you can see in the post, in this edited map, I was in the corner where the blue dot was. I was with my teacher Mrs. Schamis and about 10 other kids hiding behind and next to her desk. As soon as I got into my spot, I started to ask my teacher "Are we geniuinely going to die right now?" as soon as that last word came out of my mouth (now), the shots started ringing into our classroom. I had my head down and I was behind her desk so I couldn't see if the shooter had came into the class or not (he didn't), so I thought within seconds he would turn to me and shoot me, but thankfully he was only outside of the classroom shooting into it from the door window.

What happened to you and your friends is awful 😔

Was anyone able to lock the door to the classroom? Or was it just happening to fast to really react?

The door was already locked. What's crazy to me is that earlier in the semester (approx. 1 month ago) my teacher (Mrs. Schamis) always kept the door unlocked, but recently in the past two weeks the administration started to crack down on teachers that kept their doors unlocked.

Are you friends with any of the people in critical condition in the hospital?

No, but my great friend Daniella was one of the victims. She got shrapnel in her leg and was in the opposite corner of me. She went to the hospital but is perfectly fine now, I told her how much I valued our friendship and we are meeting for lunch tomorrow!

What do think about the people putting the shooting on Snapchat, Instagram, etc?

Well what I can tell you is that one of the viral videos that is circulating the world right now, is a video by my classmate Matt Walker. This is the video (WARNING, no blood but very horrifying sounds go on during this video), I was 4 feet to the left of him as he was taking this, I was hiding behind my teachers desk. People have asked me what I think about him taking the video during a time like that, but to be honest, there really is no dissecting what was going through his head in that moment. Some people take in situations like that differently, and react differently, and that's perfectly normal. I wish he hadn't taken that video and focused on his safety first, but what can you do.

For anyone asking if Matt is ok, yes he is. He's also in my Algebra class and he was also in my English class last year.

Do you know if the girl who was hysterically crying in the video is okay?

Well I don't know who exactly that is, but if it is one of the girls in the corner where Nick and Helena died, then it means they had dead people in their lap. There was about 12 kids in that same corner all packed in and they had to sit in that corner with 2 dead individuals and 4 injured individuals for a total of around 30-40 minutes.

I’m so terribly sorry this happened to you and your friends. Is there anything you want to say about Nick or Helena that people should know?

I never really talked to Helena and didn't know much about her. But I spent the whole school year with her so far and I can tell you that she would always be smiling while talking to her friends and she was a very positive person.

Nick (NICHOLAS DWORET, not the ruthless murderer who's full name I don't even want to say) was not necessarily a friend of mine, but I have had MANY conversations with him over the course of this school year. In particular, I remember our first conversation earlier in the year we were talking about what concerts we had went to during the summer. I told him I went to the Playboi Carti concert and the XXXTentacion concert, and he told me he went to the Lil Pump concert. He also told me stories about how he got caught doing bad things with his friends and how when Junior year started (he's a senior at this point) he made a resolution to focus on his schoolwork and make sure he stayed obedient to his parents because his swimming career was thriving at that point. Nick was one of the most pure individuals I have ever met, he always had a smile on his face. I remember specifically a few weeks ago he announced to the class that he committed to University of Indianapolis for swimming and everyone was applauding him and he did one of this gestures where you lower your head and scratch your head because you are embarrassed but happy (if you get what im saying). Every time I scroll down my instagram feed and see his face, I break down and its just all around rough to think about his family and his girlfriend and anyone else who was closer to him than I was.

It's refreshing to hear honest thoughts from a highschooler about people who passed away.

When people are my high school were involved in a tragedy everyone pretended like they were best friends with that person, even if they never spoke to them.

pretended like they were best friends with that person, even if they never spoke to them.

There is no one-upping in situations like this. At the vigil, I saw Joaquin Oliver's (he was one of the casualties, everyone called him Guac) girlfriend and bestfriend. They were in absolute pieces, like you could literally see the life sucked out of their faces. I broke down like 30 feet away from them just seeing them. Guac had literally just been switched into my Algebra class a week ago and I can't believe that when I go back to school, his seat will be empty and life will just go on.

I don't know exactly what to do, but there is currently an article on the Sun Sentinel that is completely twisting my words.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/fl-sp-hyde-florida-shooting-victim-aaron-feis20180215-story.html

I didn't say ANYTHING they are stating here, what do I do?

EDIT: It's been removed, thank you for your help guys.

“I was in one of the classrooms, and we all hit the floor as the gunfire started,’’ junior Sidney Fischer said. “Our class was skipped.”

But when he walked into the hall, he saw what no one wanted to see. Bodies were down on the floor. Blood, too. The smell of gunpowder in the air was still with him. Feis was responsive, alive, in a way that gave hope.

This is the only part of the article that concerns you from what I can tell. Did you give any in-person interviews to anyone? I've read through most of your comments. The two parts in actual quotes don't say much on their own and look to me like they're just random excerpts that fit in with the sentences the author was trying to create. I don't think you ever mentioned anything about blood, gunsmoke or bodies (plural) in the hallway. I don't remember you mentioning encountering Coach Feis at all. The sappy emotional part about him still being responsive thereby giving you hope is downright insulting if it's not true.

I gave probably 5 interviews at the vigil, one of them was a 10 minute one with AP, another was like a 5 minute one with a german news station (?) and there was like 3 other small conversations I had with some reporters but they didn't have mics.. so maybe one of them twisted my words.

Hey Sid, I went to JPT (class of 2010) and had lots of friends at Douglas. This whole thing is so surreal being how nice and family oriented our town is. Sending you a big hug. You might not get to this Q because you have so many but I always thought those slits of windows in the doors were super thick with metal wiring to reinforce them so did he literally just shoot that out then stick the gun through the hole or how did he actually manage to shoot into the room? Sorry for your losses and pain, you're not alone.

I don't know exactly I had my head down behind a desk. But, what I can tell you is that he most likely shot the window out then started shooting in the direction of the corner where Nick and Helena were.. I don't remember him even trying to open the door.

My wife and I have been alternating between learning more about the shooting and having to avoid coverage because of conspiracy nonsense about false flags and crisis response actors.

I teach high school on the West Coast. What were active shooter drills like at your school?

Thank you for doing the AMA.

We have never had an active shooter drill at our school, we have just went over what to do if a shooter was there (hide in corners not visible by the door, hide behind solid objects, go into closet).

Could you describe your reunion with your family?

Well considering my phone was on my desk still (it still is right now), I couldn't get to my parents or anyone I knew immediately while it was actually happening, but once the police escorted our room out of the building I found my friend RJ, who was in the FIRST room he shot into. RJ gave me his phone and I called my Mom first, she didn't answer because it was a Massachusetts number. I called my brother and he answered quickly and I broke down as soon as I heard him say "hello?", I explained to him that a school shooting just happened and I told him that I'm ok. He said he was going to come pick me up immediately but I told him to tell my mom, which he did. She eventually came to pick me up a mile down the road at the local park (where the vigil took place yesterday). We drove over to the local Wawa where my dad and brother were waiting for me, and I broke down into tears immediately.

Why did you decide to do this AMA? Will it help you process?

edit: you

Well considering I'm home alone right now with no phone (It's still on my desk in the classroom), I thought I'd pass time by sharing my story with the people of Reddit as this is a website that is pretty much a home to me as I'm on it almost half of the day, everyday.

I am so sorry that you went through this and were firsthand witness to such senseless violence and tragedy. As I’m sure you’ve been told a thousand times, my thoughts, my family’s thoughts, and those of our nation are with you. Please let us know if there is a way someone in the Midwest can help your community starting right now.

Now on to my question:

How did first responders on the scene handle the throng of innocent victims in the immediate aftermath? I read that the shooter tried to “blend in” with kids in an attempt to escape. Did the police seem to know quickly who was and was not a threat?

Well after we stopped hearing shots, we all stayed as quiet as we could and I was trying my hardest to stay contained and made sure people around me in the corner that I was in were safe. I can't tell how long it was waiting for police to come, but we started hearing yelling outside of the room and down the hall and we heard "police! police!", after a minute of everyone rejoicing, they finally got to our door and said "police! is anyone in there?!" in which everyone responded "yes! help us!". They then said "is anyone injured, how many of you are in there?!", before anyone could say anything I screamed "4 injured, there are about 25 of us in here, please help!". They said "we are coming in! hands up!" When they came in they got the injured out of the room immediately.

After the injured got out of the room, they made us get up and walk out in a single file line, and when I was out of the room I had to walk over a dead body right outside of the door just to get across the hall.

I heard that the shooter went out toward the middle school next to us and tried to blend in with people running away from the school and went to the walmart down the street, but I don't know a lot about exactly what he did after. What I can tell you is that it took about an hour or two after the shooting to find out who he was.

What are your thoughts on the memes that circulate that make light of school shootings? How have your views on them changed since?

Well so far I have heard (not seen) that someone made a meme related to Fortnite (the popular game) where they showed one of the dead bodies with loot on top of it like you would see when you kill someone in the game.. When my friend told me this I just broke down, I couldn't believe that someone would be so heartless and immature to even go through the time of making a meme like that.

Was your classroom door already locked when the shooting started or did someone lock it upon hearing shots? What did the teacher in the room do and did they have time/ or attempt to give to any instructions to you and your classmates?

To be honest with you, I was next to my teacher as soon as we got to our corner. She was bewildered, she didn't know what was going on. Me and her were actively trying to make sure people next to us in that corner were doing ok and were safe, we couldn't necessarily get up and go help people in the other corner if you get what I mean.

Hi Sid. Thanks so much for sharing this.

This is a throwaway but I knew beigel and wondered if you could tell me more about what happened ? I believe he was locking a door when he was murdered. It doesn’t surprise me if it’s true that he was trying to save others. He was a hero.

I worked with him for 3 years at camp starlight where he is a complete legend. Maybe the funniest guy I have ever met. I remember at the end of camp when all the counsellors got a small gift from their adl. Beigel bought us all a fucking key ring with his own face on. The man was a genius haha.

God bless Scott. You’ll be so sorely missed my so many.

I don't know much about what happened to him but I believe I heard he was on the third floor.

Hey guys sorry if I miss any of your questions! Please feel free to message me in the following days if I missed your question as it will be easier to answer them individually.

I saw a few interviews of your classmates claiming multiple shooters. Did you see or hear anything to make you think there could of been a second shooter?

Actually yes, I do remember hearing some sort of "spraying" like a machine gun down the hall but it sounded very faint. But my memory of that has somewhat faded, it's very possible it was a separate sound that had nothing to do with the shooting.

Alright guys I think I'm just about done here. I am blessed to be apart of such a wonderful community on this website, your curiosity alone is something I cherish. Please, don't EVER distance yourself from a loved one. Keep in touch with your friends and family every moment you possibly can, because shit like this can go down whether you like it or not.

To anyone who thinks I did this for karma, attention, or just to brag about being apart of a situation like this, I just want to direct you to a comment I was directed to by /u/iamspencershaw on a different forum that just about describes why I did this AMA:

Rocko's: Reading this, showing the event from his perspective/his eyes makes this just... It gets to you really bad. I don't see this as him trying to get attention, moreso giving us insight of how it went down, and it puts it into reality of just how devastating this shit is and that this can't keep happening every year. These are teenagers losing their lives to senseless violence, something needs to happen and this shit needs to stop.

Love y'all, like I said, if you genuinely have/had a question that I didn't answer, message me in the next few days and I will try to get to it. #DouglasStrong

Hi Sid, very sorry about this tragic ordeal. I don't understand, if the boy that did the shooting wasn't a student why was he allowed on the property at all? I may have misinterpreted this, but I saw on the news he wasn't allowed there with a backpack, but why would he be allowed there at all?

Well there's a gate in the fence to our senior parking lot near the bike rack that they open up in the morning and the last 30 minutes before school ends. The gate is about 150-200 feet away from one of the entrances of the freshman building. I believe he got dropped off by an Uber and just walked right in and went straight into the freshman building from there. What's crazy to me is that the same gate that he came in from, is the same gate I was running out of once I got escorted by police out of the freshman building.

If you had one free wish about what politicians should do, what would that wish be?

To stop letting the NRA control how our government handles gun laws. My friend who is a senior told me he learned in AP Gov class that the NRA is the main reason for some elected officials even being in office, and that was crazy to me. I'm 17 years old turning 18 this November and I can't even explain how immature I am man.. I don't think 18 years old is a proper age whatsoever for gun ownership.

I read that he pulled the fire alarm to shoot in the hallways, but your map suggests he shot into rooms, not the hallways. Did he start shooting before he pulled the alarm?

your map suggests he shot into rooms, not the hallways. Did he start shooting before he pulled the alarm?

Yes, the fire alarm did go off. But, despite beliefs, the fire alarm went off about 10-15 seconds AFTER he started shooting, I remember clearly. Everyone in the Freshman Building (the building my room was in, its a 3 story building with mainly freshman based classes) knew that there was a shooter outside so no one left their rooms.

People across the school couldn't tell however, so they were treating it like a regular fire drill until word got around within a minute and everyone rushed back into their classrooms.

Was there a moment where everyone collectively realized that something was wrong?

I was in a school shooting in 2012 and I remember hearing a loud noise and scream and for the first split second thinking it mustve been someone dropping something and scaring someone and then realizing that no something is super wrong.

As soon as we all heard about 7-12 loud shots outside of our classroom, we all looked at each other and DARTED toward corners.

Heartbreaking story. Hope everything turns out well for you and your classmates. Just curious about the AMA. Did someone reach out to you to do an AMA or did you reach out to them?

I chose to do the AMA, thought I'd just share my story considering a lot of people don't get to see/hear personal accounts of people that were actually in the shooting on the news; but rather see shots of our school from a helicopter up in the sky.

what was the last thought you had before the shooting and the first thought when the shooting happened?

My first thought before the shooting was: Nice I'm about to finish this activity and put my computer away, lit.

My first thought when the shooting happened: Am I about to die? Is this real?

I went to elementary with one of the girls that was injured during the shooting. Do you know *******? Is she holding up well? I never had a strong friendship with her and it’s likely she does not remember me but personally I would like to know if you know her and if she’s holding up ok.

Edited to remove her name since he replied.

Yes! I'm going to lunch with her tomorrow, she was in my class she is ok. I've been becoming very great friends with her in the past month or so. She's in my Holocaust History class (current discussion) and my Chemistry class, probably one of the nicest individuals I ever met in my life. This is absolutely crazy how ironic some of these questions are getting, the internet is nuts (in a good way).

Was it ever a thought to take the teachers desk and barracade the door so the window was covered? Do you think this should be a standard everey school teaches?

I wish. There was virtually no time for our class to react, once the first shots went off he was at our door within 20-30 seconds.

Sid, i'm glad that you're ok, and my thoughts are for you from Canada.

As everyone has asked good questions about the shooting, I noticed that your time table has 8 classes, and in my area we only have 5 classes (one of which is study hall). How do you manage 8 classes?

I hope you are doing well, and I hope you reach out to a professional to talk about what happened

They recently made a change to the schedule this year. In my freshman and sophomore years you would have 7 classes that were all 50 minutes long in one school day.

Now we have 8 classes, but 4 classes on Silver (A) day, 4 classes on Burgundy (B) day. The days are called Silver and Burgundy because that is the colors of our school. Each class is about an hour and a half long, every student is given a study hour class on one of their days that takes up a whole period. My study hour is my third period as you can see.

What’s your favourite TV Show ?

I'm trying to stray away from questions like these, but... fuck it, Game of Thrones is the greatest show ever. Fuck Olly.

I hope you’re pushing through this the best you can, and that they are providing you the resources to cope and help with any PTSD and trauma that comes with first hand experience of a tragedy like this.

My question is why did a group of the kids go to a visible corner and not line the wall to the left of the door?

During my school drills they would put paper over the door window but I knew that wouldn’t stop bullets, I would always think anything out of view of the window would be the safest :/

My question is why did a group of the kids go to a visible corner and not line the wall to the left of the door?

What you need to realize is that we had virtually NO time to react to the shots. As soon as we heard the shots, we all bolted toward two separate corners and luckily I was in the corner not visible by the door. I'm sure in the (very few) seconds they had to get to their corner, everyone in the opposite corner of mine realized they were in perfect view of the door, but it was too late to do anything. Luckily, my friend Cameron was very smart and got a cabinet in the way of some of them but Nick and Helena still got caught by the gunfire.

Was it like a bang bang bang bang or a pop pop pop pop?

Combine those together and that's what you get, but add an echo in there.