50 trombones given out to honor slain Parkland student

May 12, 2019 12:00 am • Last Updated: May 12, 2019 11:19 pm

Fifty students surround Max Schachter and Fred Schiff to blast a B-flat on their new Alex Tribute Trombones Saturday, May 11, 2019, at All County Music in Tamarac, Fla. Fifty special trombones have been given out to band students throughout Florida in honor of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who was a trombone player in the marching band at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and who died in the Parkland high school shooting. (Wayne K. Roustan/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — Fifty special trombones have been given out to band students throughout Florida in honor of a teenager who died in the Parkland high school shooting.

The South Florida SunSentinel reports that $50,000 worth of the instruments were awarded Saturday in honor of 14-year-old Alex Schachter, who was a trombone player in the marching band at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Alex was one of 17 people killed by a gunman at the school in February 2018.

The instruments are engraved with a motif combining Alex's name and a trombone. The money was raised in part by other students playing music on street corners and intersections over the past few months.

Alex's father, Max Schachter, says because of the gift, his son's love of music is "expanding all across the state."

Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.

STORIES THAT MAY INTEREST YOU