TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains information about suicide, which may be triggering to some.
When we talk about school shootings, we seem to only focus on what happens during and immediately after the incident: the current loss of life and the fear parents have as they wait to hear if their children are OK. It’s a perfectly valid thing to focus our energy on, but we don’t often talk about what happens in the months, days, weeks, and years after the tragedy. In 2018, a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, also known as the Parkland shooting, had a tragic impact on the community. One survivor, Donovan Metayer, had his life changed forever, and years after the unimaginable tragedy, he has taken his own life due to his struggles with mental health.
In a Facebook post, Nancy Metayer Bowen, his older sister, shared that her brother died on December 15, 2025, after a seven-year battle with schizophrenia…