'All of a sudden we hear screaming': Students tell what happened inside Dreyfoos during shooting

Jaynald Obilas, a freshman and musician at Dreyfoos, said hours of uncertainty followed the sudden chaos when a man on Friday crashed his van on the campus, got into a fight with a school police officer and was shot dead by another.

“All of a sudden, we hear screaming,” he said. “We just hear screaming from all over.”

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A school employee urged students to shelter in the nearest room, and within seconds, Obilas and a dozen classmates found themselves hiding in the nurse's office.

Obilas said he spent about two hours in that room, texting family members, peeking out the window and scanning the internet for updates.

“I’m just glad that it’s all over and we’re safe,” he said, walking off the campus about 3:20 pm.

'Droves of people began to run'

Lucas Solano, a freshman, said they heard a loud crash as they ate lunch. Immediately, they said, “droves of people” began to run toward the cafeteria exit.

“It was chaotic,” they said. “I started panicking, but they told us to calm down.”

Lydia Akdag, a sophomore, said she was in the theater building when students began to run.

“What’s happening?’” she shouted. Someone answered as they ran past: “There’s a code red.’”

Akdag started to run, too.

“I tried asking teachers, and all they say is, ‘We have it under control,’” she said. “But they're not really saying anything.”

Leah Harrison, a Dreyfoos student, didn't see the van enter school grounds but she heard a loud crash at the end of the school's lunch period.

"A minute or two passed by, and that's when chaos broke out," she said.

Harrison said she heard from peers that a man drove a van through the school's bus loop and he "jumped the curb and hit a tree."

"Everyone just started screaming like 'code red, code red' and started running. It was crazy," she said.

Staff writer Katherine Kokal and visual journalist Greg Lovett contributed to this story.

gsabella@pbpost.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dreyfoos school students recount the chaos inside during shooting