Students at a Florida high school where 17 of their classmates and staff members were killed have returned to gather their belongings thrown down in panic during the school shooting nearly two weeks ago.
Thousands of students joined their parents in walking past the three-story building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where the February 14 massacre took place. It is now cordoned off by a chain link fence that was covered with banners from other schools showing their support.
Seventeen people dressed in white costumes as angels stood by a makeshift memorial outside the school before moving near the entrance. Organiser Terry Decarlo said the costumes are sent to mass shootings and disasters so the survivors "know angels are looking over them and protecting them." Many of Sunday's angels were survivors of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando where 49 people died, Decarlo said.
The school reopens on Wednesday.
Earlier, Florida Governor Rick Scott's office said he had asked Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen to investigate the law enforcement response to the shooting.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has come under withering scrutiny after the revelation last week that deputy Scot Peterson who was on the scene did not go in to confront alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz during the attack. It is also facing backlash for apparently mishandling some of the 18 tip-off calls related to the suspected shooter.
The tips were among a series of what authorities now describe as the clearest missed warning signs that Cruz, who had a history of disturbing behaviour, posed a serious threat.
