17 day tribute held for 17 victims killed nearly 6 years after Parkland school shooting

(*6*)The 17 day annual birthday celebration was once created in 2019 to honor the lives of 14 scholars and three team of workers participants misplaced on Feb. 14, 2018, within the Marjory (*17*) Douglas bloodbath.

(*6*)Local 10 News spoke with Debbi Hixon, the widow of Chris Hixon, who was once considered one of 17 other folks killed within the shooting. The 49-year-old army veteran was once gunned down whilst seeking to run again into the development to avoid wasting the scholars he liked so dearly.

(*6*)“We want to celebrate the lives they live, what they meant to friends and family, not the way they were stolen from us,” she mentioned.

(*6*)“The point is that if we just move on and we don’t continue to celebrate and bring up the idea that these were amazing people stolen, then it’s just complacent and we just get used to the idea that people die from gun violence,” Debbi Hixon added.

(*6*)The annual match begins yearly on Jan. 28 and lets in households to have a good time the lives of the ones misplaced for 17 days main as much as the MSD shooting anniversary.

(*6*)February third is understood to the Hixon circle of relatives as a day devoted to the heroic athletic director who went into hurt’s method to save others.

(*6*)“He lived and died taking care of kids— making them feel safe, supporting them,” mentioned Debbi Hixon.

(*6*)It’s a day to revel in a vintage snack that Chris Hixon all the time had to be had for his scholars.

(*6*)“He always had a jar of M&Ms in his office,” Debbi Hixon mentioned whilst smiling. “He’d probably complain that those (the M&M’s) are too small. ‘Those are the fun size. Why didn’t you get the big ones?’”

(*6*)From out of doors actions to looking at films and taking part in a deal with or two, Chris Hixon’s family members are retaining his recollections alive whilst funneling ache into function.

(*6*)“It’s a time to let yourself feel the grief, but now there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and we are making changes,” mentioned Debbi Hixon.