In the year since a shooter stalked the halls of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., more than 200 teenage journalists from across the country banded together to not only track every single subsequent death of an American kid killed due to violence—but to share their stories.
Nearly 1,200 obituaries of children up to 18 years old were published Thursday as a part of a reporting project, initially spearheaded by nonprofit news outlet The Trace and The Miami Herald, aptly titled “Since Parkland.”
According to McClatchy, which lent research and resources to student journalists throughout the project, “That’s a Parkland every five days, enough victims to fill three ultra-wide Boeing 777s.”
And although the world was glued to media reports about the 14 students (and three adults) killed in Parkland on February 14, the project’s website noted that the same day “at least three other kids were fatally shot in incidents that largely escaped notice.”
With 200 other student reporters, we told stories about child gun violence victims that barely received media attention—read them here: https://t.co/dzic9BoLA4#SinceParkland
— scarlett (@scarlettliriano) February 12, 2019
“Since Parkland” lets readers search for victims by state, name, or more personal characteristics. Since Parkland tells the story of more than 300 siblings, 30 artists, 200 athletes, 80 infants and toddlers… the list goes on.
Left out are gun deaths of those who were killed while injuring someone else and an estimated 900 to 1,000 deaths due to suicide.
At least 40 of the 1,100+ kids killed by guns #SinceParkland were community volunteers. When their lives were taken, so was their ability to enrich others' lives. Read about them here: https://t.co/20Ety3vUwnpic.twitter.com/EjlOKI11ep
— The Trace (@teamtrace) February 13, 2019
When CNN asked Trace managing editor Akoto Ofori-Atta why student journalists were the ones to cover these deaths, she replied, “Because it’s their story to tell.”
“Polls show gun violence is a top concern for young people,” she said. “After Parkland, they rightly admonished the press for focusing too much on mass shootings and not enough on everyday gun violence, so we asked them to join us in our continued effort to correct that imbalance.”
As for the students?
“We wrote these profiles for every family who planned a funeral too soon,” the teen journalists explained in an editorial note. “For the victims who’ve been buried. The tiny caskets. For a country littered with bullets.”
The day after the Parkland shooting, gun and ammunition-makers’ stocks rose up to 5.6%.