Here’s an expanded news feature based on the provided source, formatted in AP style and aimed for Archyde.com.
Florida student Endures Second School Shooting, Echoing Parkland Trauma
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – For Ilana Badiner, a senior at Florida State University, Thursday’s campus shooting near the Student Union triggered a chilling sense of déjà vu. Seven years prior, Badiner was an eighth-grader at a school adjacent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when a gunman killed 17.”I already knew what the situation was like,” Badiner, 21, told Archyde.com, recalling her thoughts as she took refuge in the student center.
The April 17th shooting at FSU left two dead and six injured before the suspect was apprehended by law enforcement. The incident marked at least the sixth mass shooting in Florida and the 81st in the U.S. in 2025, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. while authorities have yet to finalize a motive, the tragedy has reignited debates over gun control and mental health resources on college campuses nationwide.
Badiner was in a bowling class on the ground floor of the Student Union when the chaos erupted. She noticed students sprinting toward bathrooms and hallways, abandoning their belongings. “I didn’t know why everyone else woudl be running and leaving all their belongings behind and definitely knew there was an emergency,” she said. Despite the loud music in the bowling alley masking any gunshots, Badiner instinctively knew something was terribly wrong.
Adding another layer of connection to the Parkland tragedy, Badiner’s bowling instructor, Stephanie Horowitz, is also a survivor of the 2018 shooting. Horowitz was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas during the Valentine’s Day massacre. “I had the feeling that it was an active attacker situation before even listening,” Horowitz,now a graduate student at FSU,shared in an interview with CBS News. “We were lucky that some of my students looked at the glass doors and saw everyone running.”
Both Badiner and Horowitz took action, leading approximately 30 to 40 people to the back office of the bowling alley and a nearby pool room. Badiner received emergency text alerts from FSU confirming her suspicions of an active shooter situation. She began texting her father, her mind racing with questions: Was the shooter inside? Outside? Which floor? Her thoughts flashed back to her experience in eighth grade, crammed against a classroom wall in the dark with her classmates, waiting for information during the Parkland shooting.
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in Parkland, expressed his outrage on X, formerly Twitter: “The united states is broken. My daughter Jaime was killed in Parkland’s school shooting. Many of her friends who were lucky enough to survive that shooting attended the State University of Florida. Incredibly, some of them have just been part of their second school shooting and some were in the Student Center today.”
Josh Gallagher, another survivor of the Parkland shooting who was in the Law Library at FSU during the shooting, echoed Guttenberg’s sentiment on social media, “After living the MSD shooting in 2018, I never thought it would happen close again.”
After the Valentine’s day shooting, Badiner struggled with anxiety, requiring her to leave a light on to sleep. “I felt nervous while in the dark,” she explained.
While hiding in the bowling alley office, Badiner overheard rumors about the shooting and its victims. She had befriended some classmates during the semester, and they huddled together in fear. She was able to track the situation on a computer in the office, and received texts from her father. what seemed like a long time was only 15 minutes.
Escorted from the Student Union by police, Badiner witnessed an injured individual on the ground, surrounded by first responders. “I simply remember going through the doors and I promptly saw her and my heart began to beat a little faster. I thought: ‘Wow, people are really seriously injured.'”
Badiner eventually made it home. “He has not yet cried and believes it might very well be as he is still in shock. Think that tears will come When you know more about victims.” She attended a vigil for the victims Friday night, but admitted to feeling anxious being in an open space with a large crowd.
Badiner, set to graduate from FSU in May, voiced her frustration with the recurring trauma of gun violence. “I definitely believe there are some things that could be changed. I am not informed enough about the specific (weapons) laws that have been implemented, but I have the feeling that someone can be doing something to keep us safer,” she said.
In the wake of the tragedy, some are calling for increased funding for on-campus mental health services, arguing that early intervention is crucial to preventing future acts of violence. Others maintain that stricter gun control laws are the only effective way to curb mass shootings.
One counterargument often raised is that stricter gun control laws would infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and would not deter criminals who obtain firearms illegally. However, proponents of gun control argue that common-sense regulations, such as universal background checks and bans on assault weapons, could significantly reduce gun violence without infringing on the rights of responsible gun owners.
FAQ: School Shooting Safety and Prevention
*
