(JNS) The Jewish community in Parkland, Fla., was plunged into mourning on Wednesday when an ex-student opened fire on students, killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, with at least four Jewish students and one Jewish teacher among the dead.
The deceased Jewish students include: Jamie Guttenberg, Alyssa Alhadeff, Alex Schachter and Meadow Pollack. Teacher Scott Beigel was also among the casualties.
Guttenberg’s father wrote on Facebook that his “heart is broken.”
“I am broken as I write this trying to figure out how my family get’s through this,” he said.
Local Jewish leaders responded quickly to the tragedy, offering prayer sessions and counseling for the community.
Rabbi Bradd Boxman of Kol Tikvah, a Reform congregation in the town close to Boca Raton, held a healing and memorial service after the mass shooting that was attended by community members.
According to Rabbi Boxman, a large number of students from his congregation was enrolled at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan of Temple Beth Chai counseled parents at the local hotel whose children were still unaccounted for. One student from Kaplan’s congregation is among the dead; another remains missing.
Rabbi Shuey Biston, director of outreach and development of Chabad of Parkland, said the Jewish community in Parkland was very tight knit.
“This is a small community, where nearly half of the population is Jewish, so everyone has been touched by what has happened,” Biston, told Chabad.org. “The phones at Chabad have been ringing off the wall as people come for emotional, spiritual, and material support.”
Rabbi Mendy Gutnick, youth director at Chabad of Parkland, said that many of the teens are still in “shock.”
“There is one girl we know who was standing between two friends who were shot dead. How can she not be scarred by something like that?” Gutnick told Chabad.org.
The attack was committed by Nikolas Cruz, 19, who was expelled from the school last year for disciplinary problems. Cruz, who was arrested by police shortly after the attack, was charged with 17 counts of premediated murder and ordered to remain in jail without bond by a judge on Thursday. Officials said that Cruz, who used an AR-15 assault rifle for the attack, had a “very disturbing” social media presence that included a large amount of guns and sharing pictures of small animals he had shot, NBC News reported.