Students react following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Image by MICHELE EVE SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images

By Aiden Pink February 15, 2018

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was on lockdown during the school shooting on Wednesday that left 17 people dead and many more wounded. But the outside world was able to learn what was happening in real time because of the Twitter posts of freshman Aidan Minoff.

His tweets were shared thousands of times.

My school is being shot up and I am locked inside. I’m fucking scared right now. pic.twitter.com/mjiEmPvGNb

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— Aidan Minoff (@TheCaptainAidan) February 14, 2018

Minoff told the Miami Herald that he was taking a math test when he heard a series of pops. “We thought maybe it was firecrackers,” he recounted. “Until we heard screaming and people, not falling, but crashing when they were barricading the door. We knew it wasn’t a joke anymore.”

Still locked in. I checked the local news and there is 20 victims. Long live Majory Stoneman Douglas High. pic.twitter.com/4kQMAlCBWt

— Aidan Minoff (@TheCaptainAidan) February 14, 2018

Students were herded to the far side of the room, away from the door, until a SWAT team busted in and evacuated them.

Afterwards, Minoff was interviewed by local and national news. The widespread visibility of his tweets led some to believe that he was part of a conspiracy theory.

Put on your tinfoil hats, boys and girls. pic.twitter.com/WEdHuSum4d

— Aidan Minoff (@TheCaptainAidan) February 15, 2018

This is not the first time Minoff showed off his journalistic chops: In elementary school, he started a website called the “Minoff Times” that provided updates about his family life.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount