Homecoming memories are some that may standout for some from high school. For teens at Oakleaf High School, they stand out for different reasons.
Students at Oakleaf said Saturday they’re still shaken up after the false reports of a shooting at the homecoming football game Friday night.
“It was really scary," Kaylnn Oliver, a freshman who was at the game, said. "It didn’t feel real. Everyone started crying, thinking they were going to get shot.”
“People were literally screaming and said ‘run,'" senior Ailani Mercado said. "They were dispersing everywhere, so we kind of looked at each other and said it’s time to go.”
The game was put on hold during the false reports and ultimately resumed. The Clay County Schools superintendent said there was never a weapon on campus and there was no immediate threat. For students like Jordynn McCann, who hid in a bathroom for 30 minutes, and her mom, they said it was terrifying.
“Personally, for me, it’s sad it was supposed to be this super happy week," Jordynn McCann said. "It’s homecoming, and then it started going slowly downhill throughout the week.”
Jordynn McCann said she and other members of the ROTC program heard someone yell and ran into the school to hide. She then texted her mom and told her she loved her.
“I get my messages from my daughter and they’re I don’t want to say cryptic, but she wasn’t explaining things perfectly because she didn’t understand everything that was going,” Stephannie McCann, Jordynn’s mom, said.
“I just figured she needed to know that if this was something horrible that was happening, she needed to know that she was loved by all of us and I just wanted to see her again,” Stephannie McCann said.
The incident caused some students to second guess coming to Saturday night’s homecoming dance.
“She didn’t even want to come to homecoming tonight," Kristy Abboub Oliver, Kaylnn’s mom, said. "...She has been homeschooled for three years, and she said ‘I don’t want to go back to school,’ and I had to put it in her that you can’t live in [a] bubble. Things happen. Things didn’t happen the way we thought happened last night so it’s ok.”
This incident comes less than a week after student Keondre Moss died in a car accident Monday that injured two other students.
“It hit hard it really did," Mercado said. "All of this stuff, especially with the accident and then losing somebody and then two people being hospitalized, and then you go to the homecoming game, which was supposed to be a tribute for our lost student and it just turns into this whole big mess.”
The students said they created a different type of school pride this homecoming.
“It has been stressful, but it’s ice knowing that people are still coming to homecoming and still coming together,” student Migue Zayas said.
“Everyone has become closer together since we’ve been through it together and we’re all coming together as one community,” student Silina Dlrosario said.
Parents said they’ll use this week as a life lesson for themselves and their students.
“It’s just an eyeopener that life is short and you need to take advantage of telling the people you love that you love them,” Stephannie said.
Several students said they planned to be more aware and safety conscious at the dance Saturday night. The community will hold a vigil Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. for Moss at the crash site on Oakleaf Parkway.