Second Parkland Shooting Survivor Kills Self, Police Confirm

Last weekend, another survivor, Sydney Aiello, killed herself reportedly out of grief and “survivor’s guilt”.

(Image used for representational purpose only.)

(Photo: AP)

A second student from the Florida high school where 17 were shot dead in 2018 has killed himself, US media reported on Sunday, 24 March.

The Miami Herald said police in Coral Springs told the paper that a current student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland had died of "apparent suicide" late on Saturday, 23 March.

The student was not identified by the police but the Miami Herald said it was a male sophomore or second-year student.

The death was confirmed by Coral Springs police to Miami Herald.

Last weekend Sydney Aiello (19), who survived the Parkland massacre and graduated last year, killed herself reportedly out of grief and "survivor's guilt".

Two of Aiello's best friends, Meadow Pollack and Joaquin Oliver, were among the dead when former student Nikolas Cruz raked the school on 14 February 2018 with a semi-automatic weapon, killing 14 students and three staff members.

Aiello's parents told local news channel CBS4 that she had been treated for PTSD and suffered from ‘survivor's guilt’, when a victim fixates on why he or she managed to live, not someone else.

After the shooting, Stoneman Douglas students became crusaders against gun violence under the banner ‘March For Our Lives,’ lobbying for tougher gun control laws and organising protests and rallies.

(This story has been published in an arrangement with PTI)