TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Students at Florida State University lost their sense of security a year ago when a gunman walked into the library and shot three people.
The Strozier Library on campus has been packed since early Friday morning, even the President of the university, John Thrasher, joined students as they marked the one year anniversary of a single act of violence.
"The weather this morning almost seems like it was a year ago," said Thrasher. "It’s kind of surreal. It's been a year."
Thrasher was praised for his handling of the shooting.
"It’s surreal to think something as bad as that could happen here," said student Thomas Hammon. "Everyone I knew stopped and froze," said student Brittany Boler.
Bole, a library science major, said she remembered when students huddling in between bookcases as a shooter stormed the library where hundreds were studying.
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"It’s kind of surreal how quickly things went back to normal," Boler said.
Many students don’t want to talk about what happened, and have moved on.
"There’s never going to be a time we don’t remember it," Thrasher said. "This is a university trying to educate young people and that’s what we’re trying to do."
Security has been increased and staff has undergone new training since the incident.
"You just never know. We found out this can happen at FSU. Nobody thought that," Thrasher said. "We’re stronger than ever."
Thrasher said the student who was paralyzed in the shooting is back on campus and doing well.
WJAX
