Carly Novell Survives School Shooting 70 Years After Her Grandfather Hid From Shooter

For 70 years, mass shootings have pervaded the United States.The massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday was just another reminder of the normalization of these haunting acts. With a death toll at 17, the survivors of Parkland, Florida’s largest shooting have not been afraid to use their voices.

Honestly the youth at #MarjoryStonemanDouglas are blowing my mind. Speaking their truth and refusing to be silenced by fear in the wake of this tragedy. You are the future.

— h (@halsey) February 16, 2018

Carly Novell, 17, was one of the many survivors who used her voice to share how she was impacted by her school’s shooting. On Thursday afternoon, Novell took to Twitter to share something destined to seen by all. In a viral tweet, she shared how she made it through Wednesday’s shooting by hiding in a closet with 18 of her fellow classmates. This fact alone is something to be baffled by, but it doesn’t end there.

Novell adds that when her grandfather, Charles Cohen, was twelve years old, he was also forced to hide in a closet during a shooting. While he was not forced to hide on school grounds, he still hid while his entire family was murdered during one of America’s first mass shootings, also carried out by a single gunman.

This is my grandpa. When he was 12 years old, he hid in a closet while his family was murdered during the first mass shooting in America. Almost 70 years later, I also hid in a closet from a murderer. These events shouldn’t be repetitive. Something has to change. #douglasstrong pic.twitter.com/nDctTNlUNs

— carly (@car_nove) February 15, 2018

Novell spoke to HuffPost and shared, “My grandpa heard everything and after that he lived with his cousin until he went to military school I believe. He never really talked about what happened and I didn’t find out until after he died. But family was so incredibly important to him because of what happened. He wasn’t as lucky as me.”