FROM TRAGEDY TO TRAGEDY

Parkland Shooting Survivors Injured in Deadly Florida Crash

Two brothers from Stoneman Douglas High School were injured, and one remains in serious condition.

Two brothers who survived the Parkland high school mass shooting were injured when a car plowed into pedestrians in Tampa, Florida. Connor and Brandon Dietrich—students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 when a gunman killed 17 students—were sitting at a table with a friend when the car crashed into a local business, striking more than a dozen people and killing four. In a statement, the Tampa Police Department called the Nov. 8 incident a “senseless tragedy” and said it was caused by reckless driving. The brothers’ uncle, Bill Muter, started a GoFundMe campaign for the family, saying they are “deeply shaken by the tragedy” that left Connor “in critical condition with multiple serious injuries, including skull fractures, a lacerated spleen, and several broken bones,” while his brother, Brandon, managed to avoid serious injuries and helped his brother. “He’s struggling, but he’s talking, which is—that’s the most important thing he can do,“ the boys’ father, Bob Dietrich, told local news station WKYC, adding that his sons never opened up to him about the Parkland shooting. The 22-year-old driver accused of causing the crash, Silas Sampson, was charged with 14 counts, including four felony charges of vehicular homicide, on Thursday and is being held in jail without bond.