Georgia summer camp remembers victim killed in Parkland shooting 1 year ago

ATLANTA — Thursday marks one year since the mass shooting at a South Florida high school.

Students and teachers were among the 17 killed that day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The pain from what happened in Parkland was felt all over the country, but at Camp Coleman in Cleveland, the tragedy hit close to home.

More than two dozen of its campers and staff members go to school in Parkland. One of them, Alyssa Alhadeff, was killed.

"The staff and the campers were just in shock and sadness. We found out that many of our campers were on lockdown in the school. Some ran away. Some were right in the room, watching their best friend get killed," the camp's director, Bobby Harris, told Channel 2's Alyssa Hyman.

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"The staff and the campers were just in shock and sadness. We found out that many of our campers were on lockdown in the school. Some ran away, some were right in the room watching their best friend get killed," Harris said.

The Coleman community, and the extended Jewish community across the county, came together in the hours, days and months afterwards. Finding different ways to support one another.

"There was just a lot of pain a lot of sadness a lot of grief a lot of anxiety a lot of stress and trauma that came from this happening to somebody you know," Harris said.

In the midst of so much tragedy, was a movement for change.

[READ: Parkland students march at Capitol calling for tighter gun control laws]

The Stoneman Douglas students, including many Colemanites, stepped in the spotlight, fighting for stricter gun laws.

"A lot of them have been the leaders in their schools have been writing articles, traveling around the country, petitioning Congress and people," Harris said.

There's now a swing in memory of Alyssa sitting outside her bunk at camp, a constant reminder of how much she is missed.

"Once you're personally involved in something like this it changes you forever," Harris said.

One of the survivors of the shooting also has ties to the metro area.

Madeleine Willford's mother is from Marietta. Willford underwent at least three surgeries to recover.

Cox Media Group