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Florida School Massacre Victim Shot In Both Legs Left 'Unimpressed' By Trump

Florida School Massacre Victim Shot In Both Legs Left 'Unimpressed' By Trump

Samantha Fuentes, a survivor of last week's high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, called the President's condolences insincere

Chris Ogden

Chris Ogden

A victim of last week's Florida high school shooting that left 17 people dead has questioned the sincerity of US President Donald Trump's attempts to offer his condolences.

Samantha Fuentes, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was shot in both legs during gunman Nikolas Cruz's attack on the school, the Daily Mail has reported.

The 18-year-old has now been discharged from hospital with shrapnel behind her right eye, and said she did not feel reassured by the President's call to her hospital room last week.

CHECK OUT COVERAGE OF THE MEETING WITH TRUMP:

"He said he heard that I was a big fan of his, and then he said 'I'm a big fan of yours too.' I'm pretty sure he made that up," Fuentes said on NBC's Today programme after she was discharged from the hospital.

'Talking to the president, I've never been so unimpressed by a person in my life. He didn't make me feel better in the slightest."

Trump was widely criticised by victims of the shooting for being disingenuous after he was spotted holding a cue card in a meeting with the survivors at the White House on Wednesday.

A photo circulated after the meeting showed him holding the cue card, which included phrases such as 'I hear you' and 'What can we do to help you feel safe?'

Donald Trump at the 'listening session'.
PA

Fellow Douglas survivor Samuel Zeif - who called for an outright ban of assault weapons such as the AR15 used by Cruz in the shooting - said that he was shocked that the president needed a prompt to be sympathetic.

"Everything I said was directly from the heart, and he had to write down 'I hear you'," Zeif said.

Others affected by the shooting, such as parent Andrew Pollack who lost his 18-year-old daughter Meadow in the massacre, were more sympathetic towards Trump, although still visibly frustrated.

Pollack, who is an avid Trump supporter, also attended the meeting and made a passionate call for the administration to 'fix' the problem of gun control.

'I'm very angry that this happened, because it keeps happening," Pollack said, stressing that 9/11 "happened once, and they fixed everything. How many schools, how many children have to get shot?"

"Fix it!" Pollack added. "It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it! And I'm pissed! Because [it's] my daughter I'm not going to see again. She's not here. She's not here. She's in North Lauderdale in King David Cemetery. That's where I go to see my kid now."

PA

Trump said after the event that he would be looking to make permits available for teachers which would allow them to carry concealed guns.

He also endorsed stricter background checks for guns and pledged to consider age limits for rifles such as the AR15 used by Cruz.

"We're going to pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas, the ideas that are going to work and we're going to get them done," the President said.

"It's not going to be talk, like it's been in the past. It's going on too long. Too many instances. And we're going to get it done."

Featured Image Credit: MSNBC

Topics:Β News, US News, Politics