"It's very high energy," Boiko said of the. Philip offers this: "We hope there's something that we can share, you can share, that helps to advance our conversation as a country, a community of people, to make things better. Carmen died one week shy of her 17th birthday. One boy was hit with 12 gunshots, including four to the head. Also shot (possibly execution style) by a close range/near-contact gunshot wound of the chest. And were not all in opposition. As April breaks down, her children, Evelyn and Robert, lean in close, knitting their fingers around her hand. But 14 students and three school staff members killed in the Valentines Day 2018 shooting each have their own set of loved ones, who, in turn, have their own opinions about what outcome the killers trial should render. Memories of Carmen Schentrup lying lifeless on the classroom floor torment De Oliveira. Nikolas Cruz, 23,. In memory of Carmen SchentrupCarmen Schentrup My name is April Schentrup. The damage is very significant.. But not all.. Since they didnt do what was needed then, let the court get it right this time, she wrote. Aaron Feis (first floor stairwell, west end): Shot in the back of the head. She saw your daughter get shot. We want to see them grow up to be happy and healthy. Carmen devoured books so many that her older brother Robert bought her an e-reader to lighten her load. "But schools aren't taking it seriously. We can change it. Carmens murder was hard, Schentrup said, for him and his family. April, who worked as an elementary school principal near Parkland, Fla., now advocates for gun reform. And when a hail of rifle bullets cut her down in her classroom, the high-velocity bullets caused extensive damage to her body, an associate medical examiner testified on Friday, underscoring the devastating carnage wrought by the AR-15 fired by shooter Nikolas Cruz. I had a bad gut feeling about it, testified Wilford who would later learn that his sister, Madeline, was wounded in the attack by the very teen whod been pestering him for a ride. Carmen Schentrup, 16, suffered five wounds, including a lethal shot to the brain. Robert Schentrup holds flowers and a candle during a candlelight vigil at Memory Mall on the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando, Florida, on the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, on Thursday, February 14, 2019. Dr. Iouri Boiko, an associate Broward County medical examiner, said the high-velocity bullets from the AR-15-style rifle caused extensive damage, blowing off body parts and killing victims when their fragments reached internal organs. ", WATCH: In A Post-Parkland America, Teens Talk About Gun Culture, After Daughter's 'Unimaginable' Death, Parkland Family Moved To Action. In a general sense he felt he was opposed to it. "You know, you could say 'Carmen's forever 16.' Every day of trying to hold yourself together.". (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool). Couresy of the Schentrup family And the fact that its super awkward and people dont know how to talk about it I also still dont know how to talk about it just makes it that much more difficult and makes the conversation that much harder.. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. It was only in the last year and a half or so, he said, with the trial approaching that he thought about it more and his opinion was clarified, thanks in part to Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Was subsequently shot in the back an additional 5 times (killing both girls). Philip talks with Evelyn before leaving for work. In the years since, Schentrup has moved to Seattle, Washington, and, like many other victims relatives, has poured himself into addressing gun violence: Today he works on the organizing team for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and helps manage its youth program called Team ENOUGH. Now, her parents, Philip and April, wear teal bracelets printed with her name and the dates that mark her short life: 2/21/2001-2/14/2018. And then I couldn't stop crying. Theyll make the decision that they make. She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends and making others laugh. We want to make it an academic debate, because then we don't have to feel the pain and suffering of others. We believe under Florida law a death sentence is the appropriate outcome.. "It didn't feel like it was a real job," she says. Couresy of the Schentrup family Then Nicholas Dworet rapidly fell over in front of me. After Carmen was killed, Philip recalls what he heard from a close relative: "'Sorry, but this is the way it is. Get all Latest News about cara dune, Breaking headlines and Top stories, photos & video in real time Funeral Home Services for Carmen are being provided by Kraeer Funeral Home and Cremation Center of Coral Springs, Florida. "I felt like I had to do something to help the families in whatever way I could." hide caption. And if so, live through that.. Its hard for me to be of an opinion that my parents dont agree with and actively dislike, Robert Schentrup said. The Schentrups learned about warnings made to the FBI's tip line weeks and months before, alerting the agency to specific threats the shooter had made; the FBI has admitted those tips fell through the cracks. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. It will not make the physical scars of those wounded go away. While son Robert remained in Florida to attend college, the rest of the family moved to Washington state. One year after Carmen's death, April Schentrup stands beside a photograph of her daughter that was used during her funeral but now rests in the family's new home. GoFundMe; Facebook, Joan Cox. ", The blue urn holding Carmen's ashes rests with photos and drawings in a glass cabinet in the family's living room. The Schentrups have traded the palm trees of southern Florida for snowy mountain views outside Seattle. "It'll never be Valentine's Day for us," April adds. Two years ago, my daughter Carmen was gunned down in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The gunman shot out a window in the class door. I wanted to show that we think different things. She wanted to get into the best colleges she could.". And they have seen autopsy photographs of almost all of the victims, most of whom were shot more than once. "I know we need to act. April always wears bracelets in honor of Carmen and the 16 other victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. A Warner Bros. Injured student, Meadow Pollack, crawled over to her to shield her after she had already been shot 4 times. Family members of the victims held hands and wiped away tears as the verdict was read. It's definitely not easy. They'll be joined by many other Parkland families, as well as clergy and members of their Episcopal church, St. Mary Magdalene of Coral Springs, Fla., where Carmen was a youth group leader. This is basically a pressure wave which can cause damage to nearby tissue, organs and nerves even if those tissues/organs weren't directly in the bullet's trajectory. Still, Schentrup is not alone in his stance against the death penalty: Michael B. Schulman, whose son, geography teacher Scott Beigel, was one of three staff members killed, wrote an op-ed for the . She was known as a fountain of talent: A violin, guitar and piano player. Frozen in horror: Notes from inside the Parkland school massacre site. Carmen Schentrup had a laser focus on her future a straight-A student and National Merit . Rumors started spreading like wildfire that Carmen had been shot and was left in the building as other students were evacuated. I was thinking it could've been him or Kyle Laman but Kyle escaped and the body stayed put in the video. Alyse Young for NPR But she quickly grew disillusioned. "It's not fair that she's not with us," Jacqueline said. Was frozen in fear after being trapped in the third floor hallway. But if that is true, I dont think its been publicly avalible at least. We wanted to speak up.". Carmen Schentrup died February 14, 2018 in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. Robert Schentrup of Brady United, a national gun-reform group, lost his 16-year-old sister, Carmen, in the Parkland shooting. Carmen Marie Schentrup. Todd. Carmen Schentrup via Broward County Schools Last September, Carmen was named one of 53 National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists in the county. Carmen Schentrup (Room 1213): Shot in the abdomen. Although we won't know until or if the autopsy reports are released, Ms. Schentrup was probably hit in the liver or perhaps the diaphragm. And hugging Evelyn a little bit harder. The family has no special plans that day. At one hospital, April was told by law enforcement officials, "We want to be honest with you, this was a mass shooting and there were multiple fatalities. Before I leave, I ask the Schentrups the same question I asked them last year, just a few weeks after the shooting, when I visited them in Parkland at their invitation: Why talk to me? Peter Wang Allen Breed / AP Peter Wang was. They are part of the advocacy group Stand With Parkland, started by the victims' families, which is pushing for changes nationwide: tougher school safety measures, better mental health screening and tighter gun laws. Were not all in support. This will not help us heal and get any kind of closure, Michael B. Schulman, whose 35-year-old son, Scott J. Beigel, was killed in the shooting, wrote in 2019 in The South Florida Sun Sentinel. "To be honest, it's the same day I live over and over," he says. That's why we're doing what we're doing. In the animated video that shows the shooting's events, there's someone who survived the shooting on the 3rd floor, but just lays there, I guess playing dead? With Carmen's death, I was initiated into a club no one ever wants to joinparents who have had their child taken from them by gun violence. The Schentrups now focus on their activism. Carmen Marie Schentrup 2/21/01-2/14/18. Cruz fired 139 rounds of 5.56-and-.223-caliber bullets during the rampage. 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