Hundreds of people filled a Catholic church to celebrate the life of 16-year-old Carmen Schentrup, one of the 17 who died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla.
Her funeral was held Tuesday, the day before her 17th birthday. Her coffin was wheeled in, draped in a white sheet, an orange glow reflecting from the stained glass windows above.
"We should not be here at all," said the Rev. Mark Sims. "The family has been set adrift ... in a storm of heartbreak and emptiness. ... We are all left standing, stooped over, doubled up in pain and disbelief."
Schentrup, a musician, was a "future Gator who would have made this a better world for all of us" after she would have attended the University of Florida. She was a "perfectionist" who loved red lipstick and teal-colored bags. The middle daughter of Pembroke Pines Elementary Principal April Schentrup, she was a National Merit Scholar semifinalist.
Those who love her the most vowed at her Mass that "change is coming," Sims said.
"Enough is enough."
Their voices for gun control and to end school shootings will be heard from Tallahassee to Washington, Sims said.
"Today we mourn. ... After that, we are going to act."
After the Mass, three white doves were released into the sky.
