PARKLAND, Fla. — Tuesday was a solemn day in Parkland as the community remembered the 17 lives lost five years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Tony Montalto, who lost his daughter, Gina Rose Montalto, spoke with WPTV about the searing loss he feels each day.
"The pain in your heart, the hole that's there when you lose a daughter...," Montalto said.
Gina Rose was only 14 years old the day she died on Feb. 14, 2018. Her bright light lives on in the Gina Rose Montalto Memorial Foundation.
"We give out scholarships, we give out an art scholarship, a STEM scholarship every year," Montalto said.
Stand With Parkland, the organization Montalto leads, has tirelessly pushed to make schools safer.
The group has spearheaded changes year after year — from physical security to parental notification. They have pushed for red flag laws that did not exist the day Gina died, despite the teen gunman’s troubled history.
"Forty-plus times law enforcement was at the shooter's house, but they had no ability to remove the weapon," Montalto said. "Now, it's (red flag laws) in place, and it's been used here in Florida successfully over 8,000 times over the past four years to help save lives."
Montalto and his family now work to improve the world they best can for a daughter who lived all too briefly but did so with passion and purpose.
"I remember that every policy we change, every law we pass that makes other students and teachers safer in school, extends Gina's legacy," Montalto said.