JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Tallahassee father said he is relieved that his daughter is safe after Thursday’s mass shooting at Florida State University.
Dr. Arnett Moore said his daughter, Dr. Devan Moore, works at FSU and was in her office at the school during the incident. He said he was also planning to be on campus that day, as they were expected to participate in a concert later that night.
However, things changed when the deadly shooting occurred just before noon.
Arnett Moore said his daughter was locked in her office at the College of Music for at least four hours on Thursday before being given the all clear to leave.
He said he was able to speak with his daughter while she was on lockdown, which gave him some peace.
“Because I was actually able to communicate, I was at ease,” he said. “I am one who in situations like this, I don’t really get rattled that easily. My wife, on the other hand, she was totally at the other end of the spectrum. For me, as long as I could communicate, I was getting messages back-and-forth, knowing that [Devan was] safe, [she was] okay, and [Devan was] locked in. Everything was okay.”
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Arnett Moore said there was even more relief when his daughter made it home.
“It was good to see her car pull up in the driveway,” he said. “But I did realize that when she made it home, she did not have a whole lot to say about it, and it had its impact on her.”
According to Florida State’s website, Devan Moore is the assistant director of athletic bands at the university. She teaches several music education courses and conducts the University Concert Band.
The Moores were preparing for a concert that was supposed to happen Thursday night. Arnett Moore was set to be a guest conductor.
The event was one of all campus activities canceled following the mass shooting.
“In the scheme of things, it really pales in comparison to the kind of tragic loss that some people are experiencing right now,” Arnett said. “I think that is the thing I have to really look at. Although we are disappointed in the fact that we did not get a chance to have this event that we were both looking forward to, there are others whose disappointment runs so far greater than ours. Even with some of the survivors who right now are having to deal with the trauma of having to go through this. Their lives are never going to be the same. You hope everybody recovers from this. You hope the campus recovers from this. But for many, it is going to be a long, long time for that recovery.”
Arnett Moore understands the fabric and makeup of the city. He has lived in Tallahassee for more than 40 years after moving there to attend Florida A&M University. He had a message of encouragement and empathy for his fellow Tallahasseeans.
“Florida state, you are resilient,” he said. “Your campus is resilient. Unfortunately, you have seen things like this before and you have rebounded from it before and you will rebound from this again. Let’s just keep our heads up. Let’s keep our prayers going because there are those who are certainly in need of our prayers right now. Our hearts go out to those who are grieving. To our respective lawmakers who use this as the seat of government for the state of Florida, you have to see the urgency in making sure that we have rules and regulations on the books right now that work to prevent this kind of tragic event from taking place.”
Arnett Moore was a longtime teacher in Tallahassee, now retired after more than 30 years in the classroom and as an administrator.
“Please do not let this deter us from the mission of teaching and training the next set of leaders that we have for our respective local communities, for our counties, our states and even our federal positions,” he said. “We are responsible as educators. We are training them up in the way that they should go. We do not want this kind of event, this kind of thing to deter us from the mission that we have as educators. To all of those who are impacted by this, our hearts, and our prayers go out to you. Certainly, we will rebound from this because we are resilient. We are Tallahassee, we are Floridians.”
All classes are canceled through Friday.
All home sporting events scheduled through this weekend were also canceled.
