Massachusetts College Officials Visit Florida School on Same Day as Shooting

Paul Brower, Assistant Dean at the Dudley, Massachusetts college and St. Clair Ryan, an assistant football coach, were on an athlete recruiting

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trip to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida when the deadly shooting broke out.

Brower and Ryan sheltered when gunshots rang out, “We were at that point in the football office, which was probably one of the safest places in the building. So doors were locked and we didn’t know what was going on but we knew that it was something serious after a few seconds and we stayed in place until a SWAT team came and started to move us,” Brower said to WBZ-TV.

According to Boston Magazine, police in SWAT gear evacuated the building about three hours after.

“One of the most surreal moments was watching these young students and having to see them go through that, it is really heart-wrenching. These are fixtures in these kids’ lives, and to see them go through that is not something that I could have ever imagined,” Brower told WCVB.