PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — It’s been five years since the Parkland school shooting, a shocking tragedy that rocked the country. Those horrifying moments brought back memories for some who remember one of the first school shootings in Florida.
One of the first was at Pinellas Park High School 35 years ago.
On Feb. 11, 1988, a fight broke out in the cafeteria at Pinellas Park High School. When two administrators and an intern tried to intervene, gunshots rang out.
It was only the fourth school shooting in Florida's history, the first in the Bay area.
Assistant Principal Richard Allen was killed and two teenagers, Jason McCoy and Jason Harless were arrested. The pair had previously been suspended from school but were on campus showing off handguns they had stolen.
At the time school shootings were relatively unheard of, since then they’ve increased exponentially year over year.
"There were 117 different shootings on school property in 2018 when Parkland happened," founder of K-12 School Shooting Database David Riedman said. "Last year, there were 303. So almost three times as many, and it's increased every single year."
There were security measures in place at Pinellas Park High School at the time, and since then, protection measures have ramped up across the state, and country. However, Riedman says that doesn't seem to have quelled the number of shootings.
"As we've invested more in school security, the number of shootings, the severity of the shootings has significantly increased," he said.
He says the best way to crack down on school shootings is for people to keep an eye out for red flags.
"We can't secure our way out of school shootings. The majority of school shooters are current or former students," Riedman said. "They're either allowed to be in the building, or they know exactly what the security procedures are building. What we need to do is focus on prevention before an incident starts."