Relatives also took to social media in an effort to find loved ones in the school.
Parents of students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are sharing the heartbreaking text messages they received from their children as the carnage unfolded inside.
One mother, Ann Joseph, showed Inside Edition texts from her frightened daughter, who was taking cover in the school as the gunman sprayed the hallways with bullets.
"I told her, ‘You are not going to die,'" a tearful Joseph recalled. "And then she said, ‘I am scared.’ Then I said, ‘Stay with me my baby.'"
Her daughter survived the massacre.
Another girl was rehearsing a scene from the musical Yo, Vikings! in her drama class when gunfire erupted. She took shelter in a closet with 40 other students and texted her mom.
"If I don't make it, I love you and I appreciate everything you did for me,” she wrote.
Frantic parents and relatives also took to social media looking for their loved ones.
“If anyone has any news on Carmen Schentrup or saw her at the shooting let me know," read one post.
"Help us - please stop what you are doing. We need to find my niece Gina Montalto," her aunt posted.
Sadly, Schentrup and Montalto both perished in the shooting.
A friend of Schentrup posted on Facebook that she was "someone we all praised for her intelligence."
Montalto was eulogized in the Miami Herald by a former teacher.
"My heart is broken into pieces. I will forever remember you my sweet angel," Manuel Miranda, told the Herald. "She was the sweetest soul ever. She was kind, caring always smiling and wanting to help."
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