Bells ring as FSU remembers one year after shooting

Friday marked the one-year anniversary of a shooting at Florida State University that left two dead and six injured.

The Tallahassee campus community came together to remember and show support.

FSU held a moment of silence at noon. The campus bells rang. Some people cried.

“People are hurt and they're suffering, and they remember,” said Gabriella Nogueira, a sophomore biological sciences student. “Walking up here, I feel kind of shaky."

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Nogueira was one of many who left flowers outside the student union building, where the shooting occurred.

"It's just important to me that we come here and remember and understand that what happened wasn't OK and it shouldn't be normalized,” she said.

Students also left sticky notes.

"Our hearts are always with you," one read. Many said, "FSU Strong."

Douglas Soule

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WUSF

Nico Valenzuela, a senior environmental science and policy student, said there was a beauty in how people came together.

"I think the first thing that comes to mind is the people here at the vigil, like the immense hugs that were given out or smiles or friends I haven't seen in a couple years,” Valenzuela said. “We just have this shared connection of, like, we know what happened, and really, you just put a lot of differences aside."

Valenzuela and other Student Government Association members set up the memorial. He separately helped arrange a Catholic rosary prayer.

He said, on this anniversary, it's important to be physically and spiritually together.

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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting