Students Recognized By Coral Springs City Commission For Reporting Teen With Gun
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BROWARD (CBSMiami) – Three Coral Springs High School students who spoke up when they saw a former student with a gun on campus received high praise from city leaders Wednesday.
Seniors Alejandra Palma and Sinclaire Caprio and sophomore Daniel Salazar were recognized by the Coral Springs City Commission Wednesday night.
After receiving certificates and rounds of applause, the trio described what happened on October 10 when Salazar says he saw former student Ryan Trollinger in the parking lot.
"He lifted up his shirt and I see the handle of the gun and I was just in shock," Salazar remembered.
Salazar told the two girls what he saw. The two females immediately relayed the information to the school resource officer.
"In that moment we were like, 'Should we leave, should we leave?'" Palma said. "But we realized it was better if we said something."
Their actions prompted a lockdown at the school and led to the arrest of Trollinger.
Police say the student Trollinger is accused of showing the gun to in the parking lot was Baker Acted and was found with a disturbing, rage-filled journal talking about wanting to carry out a school shooting worse than Columbine.
"After reading the 10-page book that the other friend had, it was a lifesaver that we reported the issue," Salazar said.
Caprio said learning about the journal after the incident, disturbed her.
"The fact that there was a date (for carrying out the shooting)," Caprio said. "That he knew what guns he wanted to use, what he planned on doing. And how he sounded, he sounded angry at everybody."
Caprio said she's still impressed at how quickly police handled the crisis.
"Within seven minutes, our staff had both the students out of the school, in cuffs," she said.
These students said they received gift cards from parents of fellow students as well as letters of gratitude saying they saved countless lives.
"We had a letter from someone who's like the mother of a freshman and that really hit me like, 'Wow. They're just starting high school and this happens,'" Palma said.
And they heard much more of that from city leaders Wednesday.
"They probably saved many, many lives," said Mayor Skip Campbell. "They should be proud of themselves."
"We're eternally grateful for you stepping up," said Vice-Mayor Dan Daley.
The city and these students are pleased that a possible tragedy was averted on the campus last month and they hope that other people learn from their choice to speak up when they saw something suspicious.
"If you go and don't say something and people do actually get hurt because of what happened, you have to live with that for the rest of your life," Palma said. "Like you could've stopped something terribly from happening but you didn't."
After the incident, city leaders asked the school district to change this open campus and give it a single point of entry to make things more secure.
City officials say they've been assured by Broward County Public Schools that making a single point of entry at this campus and dozens of others in the county is now a top priority.
Prosecutors are still determining whether Trollinger will be charged as a juvenile or as an adult. He has a court hearing next week.