Florida State University student Emma Behar found out about an active shooter on the campus through text messages from friends and loved ones. One of those people who texted her was her mom.
“I immediately called her and she didn’t answer,” Emma’s mother Anna Behar said.
Behar said she panicked when she couldn’t reach her 19-year-old daughter.
“You feel absolutely helpless, this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” she said.
Emma Behar was a five minute walk from where the shooting happened.
Phones started blowing up with messages about the shooting
“I was in a group fitness class with a bunch of my friends and one of them happened to check her phone. Her phone was blowing up with messages saying that there was an active shooter,” she said.
That’s when Emma checked her phone and called her mother, telling her she was fine.
“She told her mom she was hiding in a bathroom stall and I told her immediately, I texted her immediately to stand on the toilet and she said that’s what I’m doing,” Emma’s father Robert Behar said.
Shooting puts somber note on college experience
Behar’s parents, who live in South Florida, said their daughter is in her second semester, has enjoyed the experience and has been proud of attending school in Tallahassee. The shooting, however, has changed her perspective.
“It’s so surreal, I have full body goosebumps, I’m shaking, I never thought this would happen and everyone is so scared,” Emma Behar said.
Her parents believe this will be a difficult episode to get over for their daughter and the many other students who were on the FSU campus on Thursday.
“I think when they step back on campus on Monday, it’s going to be challenging for them,” Robert Behar said.
