Parkland Mom On Weekend Mass Shootings: 'It Needs To Stop'
IPSWICH (CBS) -- The mother of a victim of last year's mass shooting in Parkland, Florida is calling for change and action after two deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio over the weekend.
"Our legislators need to come together and compromise and come up with some solutions that are going to make a difference and make an impact so we don't continue to have school shooting after school shooting or shooting after shooting. It needs to stop," Lori Alhadeff told reporters.
In February of 2018, Alhadeff's 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was gunned down in her high school classroom in Parkland.
Since then, Alhadeff has channeled her grief into action by promoting legislation, named for Alyssa, requiring schools to install silent panic buttons in every classroom.
Her advocacy brought her to Ipswich on Monday, where she attended a charity golf tournament in honor of Saugus Police Officer Harold Vitale who was killed in the line of duty in 1985.
"He was the guy that if you broke down on the side of the road in upstate Maine, he moonlighted as an auto mechanic and he'd rent a tow truck and he'd drive to Maine and he'd tow you back," Vitale's brother, Les Vitale said.
Both families are advocating for a software app called Inforce 911, which allows teachers and others to communicate directly with law enforcement in the event of a threat.
"It's a real-time, threat alert notification system. It's a software app designed to reduce police response times for a critical event at a school," Inforce CEO Brandon Flanagan said.
Lori Alhadeff hopes her advocacy work can promote change from the bottom up, even when it appears no progress is being made on a national level.
"We need to do something because what we're currently doing, it's not working," Alhadeff said.
