Irish-American survivor of Parkland school shooting shares powerful message about gun control

Anna Crean survived the harrowing Valentine's Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida; a tragic event which has irrevocably changed her life. "How many of America’s own children need to die before this ends," she demands.

The 15-year-old student has found an outlet for her devastation and anger, penning a passionate message regarding gun control issues.

Crean, whose parents John and Rachel are Irish and emigrated to New York in 1990 and 1992 respectively, drafted a passionate, poignant, and urgent message regarding the laws around gun control in the US which has since been shared by outlets like NBC.

Speaking to IrishCentral.com, Crean (below) said she found writing the articulate post "relaxing" as she put her thoughts into words at 2.30am, during yet another sleepless night following the incident.

Her favorite class is creative writing, and in the aftermath of the tragedy, she has found a way to express herself, cope with emotions, and urge the government to enact change in the process.

"I'm riled up and fired up. There definitely needs to be a change," she said. "If I could tell President Trump one thing it would be, 'Stop taking money from the NRA and think for yourself. It's a gun problem, it's not a people problem.'"

The water polo player stated that in the wake of the events of February 14th, the lives of every Majory Stoneman Douglas High School student has been impacted forever.

"All existing school drama has completely disappeared. Everyone is looking at life in a different way and trying to spread love," she maintained. 

Crean's mother Rachel told IrishCentral.com that she and her husband John (both pictured below) are incredibly proud of their daughter and her newfound voice and activism.

"She’s a very strong character. I think penning her thoughts is helping her get through this. She may be going to meet with representatives in Tallahassee with a group of others so she is excited about that. We are so proud to see this side of her, standing up for what she believes in."

Rachel stated that while a mother's pervasive fear of gun violence abounds, she never in a million years thought it would happen to her family or their close-knit community (she and her husband relocated from New York to Florida in  2003 when Anna was a baby.)

"It was always in the back of my mind sending her to school, but I never thought it would happen to us.  This has definitely put the issue in the forefront - guns are out there."

The image below shows every mother's worst nightmare: the moment Rachel received word of her daughter's terrifying situation.

"She's lost classmates; Alyssa, one of the victims, was her biology lab partner. Going back to science class is going to be tough," Rachel said.

Crean also lost two classmates in her creative writing class. She was interviewed by CGTN in the moments after Nikolas Cruz launched an attack on the students of his former highschool, ending the lives of 17 pupils and teachers.

Heartbroken, she told the station that she had personally witnessed fellow classmates fall at the hands of the mentally disturbed Cruz.

"I guess my teacher closed the door before they could make it back in because there were just too many kids to make it through a small door and they just tried to keep running, but I guess there were too many people and there wasn't enough time and they passed away," the brave teen told the network.

Read More: Gun control laws will change when we show children's dead bodies

She also remembered her friends, praising them for their humor and talents.

"I'm going to miss them a lot. One of them was Joaquin. He was really funny. He always made jokes but he always stood up for you in the class if anyone tried to make fun of you. Mehta was the other girl, she was really sweet and only ever nice. And she was a really good writer," Crean told the network.

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