(NewsNation) — The three-story high school building where a gunman shot and killed 17 people in 2018 is set to be torn down after being preserved for evidentiary reasons.
In the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, schools have begun exploring how architecture and design could help keep students and staff safe.
Debra Hixon, wife of former Stoneman Douglas Athletic Director Chris Hixon, who died in the shooting, joined “NewsNation Now,” where she said the school’s demolition is a step toward healing.
“In the last year or so, we, the families, have actually walked through a lot of legislators to kind of tell that story in a place where they can actually see what we’re talking about in terms of how to make schools safe structurally,” Hixon said.
The demolition comes six years after the gunman opened fire at the school. Once the criminal case was completed, Hixon vowed to no longer think about the shooter.
On Friday, her thoughts were instead of her late husband, whom she called her “biggest critic and my biggest cheerleader.”
“Christopher was always the biggest person in the room,” Hixon said. “He was sarcastic. He was bigger than life. He was friendly. … He just made you feel like you were part of his family from the second that you met him.”
She went on to describe her husband as a “beacon of safety,” always concerned about his surroundings.
“You always felt like you were safe when you were with him, and he was a great dad,” Hixon said.