Southeast
Florida school safety laws after Parkland massacre touted by victim's dad as national 'blueprint'
ORLANDO, Fla. – Since the Parkland high school shooting, Florida’s elected leaders have pledged to implement proactive measures, making the state a “blueprint” for preventing mass shootings.
Their advocacy and legislative work was on display at the inaugural Florida National Summit on School Safety, where law enforcement and school officials from 20 different states came together with one goal – to share best practices in school safety.
Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Petty, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Alaina in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Petty shared how Florida is preventing mass shootings, and what other states can learn.
“We’ve had school safety bills now every year since the Parkland tragedy,” he said. “So we’re doing a lot of things right here in Florida, and we wanted to share that blueprint with the rest of the country. So we invited states from across the nation to come, and we’re all learning from each other. And hopefully, as a group, help each other solve this problem.”
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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 13, 2021. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina was killed in the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, tells Fox News Digital that “how we protect our nation’s schools tracks much more closely with the response JD Vance gave than anything Tim Walz said.” (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Alaina Petty was one of the 17 people who were killed on Feb. 14, 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at the school, opened fire on students and staff, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others. The victims included 14 students and three staff members.
“They say time heals all wounds, but it’s seven years now, and it’s still the first thing I think about in the morning when I wake up, and it’s often the last thing I think about before I go to sleep,” he said.
“Which is why this mission is so important. I know my daughter, Alaina, would be proud of me for advocating for other students to be protected from a danger that I didn’t understand was possible,” he said.
The Florida National Summit on School Safety highlighted how the state has worked to improve school safety following the Parkland, Florida high school shooting in 2018 that killed 17. (Sarah Rumpf-Whitten/Fox News Digital)
Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Díaz Jr. highlighted how the Parkland shooting brought attention to the U.S. Secret Service’s (USSS) research on “leakage,” or warning signs, preceding a mass shooting.
“The tragedy of Parkland is an example of where everything went wrong and where there were multi-agency failures up front,” he told Fox News Digital. “There was leakage multiple times that this could have been stopped the front. So it was a complete failure across the board, allowing us to learn from that incident.
“And we’ve been able to put in place not only these preemptive measures with the threat assessment, but we’ve now evolved into threat management, where when we take a student into that process, we monitor that student to make sure that they receive services to avoid a crisis,” he said.
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He shared that Florida officials have “hardened” their schools by creating single entry points, updating technology and having police or additional guardians that are trained to prevent on-campus shootings.
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Díaz said that in all the past mass shootings across the U.S., there was always a crisis point.
“We know in all of these shootings that there was leakage, but there’s also the ability, if you have things right, to prevent it, even after everything else has failed,” he said.
A memorial is made outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were killed in a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Feb. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Utah has taken notes on how Florida has risen from the Parkland tragedy. Matt Pennington, the Utah State Security Chief with the Department of Public Safety, said that they have “paralleled” Florida’s legislation.
Pennington told Fox News Digital that Utah’s legislative body is taking proactive steps to prevent a tragedy before it happens.
“Several of the Parkland parents came to our legislative session and spoke to legislators about their experience, their impact and how it’s affected them in their lives,” he said. “And that really just drove it home when you have people coming that are victims and their children have lost their lives due to school violence.
“It’s really important that we get ahead of this in Utah and hopefully not have an attack.”
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Two teen boys in Florida are accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl and setting her on fire along a wooded walking trail last week in what authorities are calling a “horrific” killing.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters Thursday that the body has been identified as Danika Troy. He said Danika’s mother reported her as a runaway on Monday.
“Unbeknownst to the mother, Danika was murdered the previous night,” Johnson said.
A passerby discovered Danika’s body along a wooded area off Kimberly Road in Pace, a town about 16 miles northeast of Pensacola, and called 911, Johnson said.
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Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters that the suspects were supposedly friends with the victim from school. He said investigators were still working to determine a motive. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators quickly identified the suspects as 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins and 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and took them into custody.
“This is where it gets really horrific,” Johnson said.
Kimahri Blevins, 14, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Williams allegedly stole his mother’s handgun and shot Danika.
“It’s bad enough you kill a 14-year-old. You’re 14. You’re 16,” Johnson said. “Shoot her multiple times, and then they set her on fire.”
Gabriel Williams, 16, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Johnson said investigators are still working to determine a motive.
“They have been interviewed, but the motive that they’re giving doesn’t fit the forensics or any facts of the case, so we don’t have a legit motive,” he told reporters.
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Blevins and Williams supposedly knew the victim from school, according to Johnson. He believed the two teens have had previous “run-ins” with law enforcement, though he could not immediately say if they had earlier arrests.
Blevins and Williams are being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice on premeditated first-degree murder charges.
“You don’t want to go out and see a burnt child with bullet holes,” Johnson said. “That’s not something you sign up for.”
Johnson said no parents have been charged at this time, though investigators are “looking into it.”
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The sheriff’s office is working with the State Attorney to charge both teens as adults.
“If you do an adult crime, you gotta do adult time,” Johnson said.
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Southeast
Florida college student who allegedly shipped 1,500 rounds of ammo to dorm had AR-15 under bed
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A Florida college student who allegedly ordered 1,500 rounds of ammunition to his dorm room also had a semi-automatic rifle under his bed, according to authorities.
Constantine Demetriades, a 21-year-old senior at Rollins College, was arrested by Winter Park police on Wednesday and charged with possession of a weapon on school property after the ammunition order was reported to police by the school’s assistant campus safety director, according to an arrest affidavit, WKMG reported.
After the purchase was flagged, the assistant safety director searched Demetriades’ dorm and allegedly discovered an unloaded AR-15 under his bed inside an unsecured black carrying case with one loaded magazine and five empty magazines, as well as a tactical vest, knives, a black security vest and ear protection.
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Constantine Demetriades, 21, was charged with possession of a weapon on school property. (Winter Park Police Department)
Demetriades, who said he likes to shoot as a hobby, told police he had the rifle on school property because he had recently returned from a Thanksgiving trip to New Jersey, where he said the guns were purchased and registered legally, according to the affidavit.
He said he did not have ill intentions and that he usually stores the firearm at a friend’s home off school property, the affidavit stated. He also said he only brought the gun to campus on one other occasion.
Constantine Demetriades said he did not have ill intentions. (Getty Images)
While Florida allows open carry, Rollins College bans all weapons on campus. Demetriades allegedly said he is aware that weapons are not allowed on campus and that his New Jersey concealed carry permit does not apply in Florida.
The college said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that he is banned from campus until the situation is resolved, adding that an internal investigation has been opened.
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While Florida allows open carry, Rollins College bans all weapons on campus. (Getty Images)
“On Wednesday, the College received a report indicating a violation of our weapons policy,” Rollins College said in a statement. “After receiving this information, we immediately initiated an investigation.”
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“We quickly identified and contacted the student, who cooperated fully with College officials and local law enforcement as we investigated the matter further,” the statement continued. “The student was arrested and is not permitted to be on campus while the College proceeds with the student conduct process.”
The school said Demetriades was additionally charged with a violation of the college’s weapons policy, and will go through the on-campus conduct process.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., briefly sparred with “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl over what she claimed was “accusatory” behavior from the journalist.
Greene gave her first sit-down interview with Stahl since announcing her resignation from Congress last month. During the segment, Stahl and Greene spoke about the Georgia lawmaker’s apology for taking part in “toxic politics.”
“I would like to say humbly, I‘m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics,” Greene told CNN in November. “It’s very bad for our country, and it’s been something I’ve thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated, is that we, I’m only responsible for myself and my own words and actions, and I am committed, and I’ve been working on this a lot lately to put down the knives in politics.”
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., gave her first sit-down interview with “60 Minutes” since announcing her resignation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“But you contributed to that,” Stahl asked Greene Sunday. “You. You, you were out there pounding, insulting people.”
Greene pushed back, claiming that Stahl had contributed to toxic politics herself.
“You’re accusatory, just like you did just then,” Greene said.
“I know you’re accusing me, but I’m smiling,” Stahl responded.
“You’re accusing me,” Greene said. “But we don’t have to accuse one another.”
The two continued to go back and forth, with Greene repeatedly insisting that Stahl should also acknowledge her own contribution to toxic politics.
“I don’t insult people,” Stahl said.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., previously apologized for her role in “toxic” politics. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
“You just, you do in the way you question,” Greene said. “And you are, you’re accusing me right now.”
Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for comment.
Greene previously sat down with Stahl in April 2023, when the two had a fiery exchange over the congresswoman’s claim that Democrats are the “party of pedophiles.”
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“They are not pedophiles. Why would you say that?” Stahl exclaimed.
“Democrats support — even Joe Biden, the president himself — supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries. Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children,” Greene said.
“Wow,” Stahl reacted.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl had a tense exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., over her claim that Democrats were the “party of pedophiles” during an April 2023 interview. (Screenshots/CBS News)
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Greene shocked the political landscape last month when she revealed she would leave Congress Jan. 5. Many believe her abrupt exit was the result of her soured relationship with President Donald Trump.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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