This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

In Miami on Saturday, survivors of the Parkland school shooting met James Shaw Jr, the man who grabbed the hot muzzle of an AR-15 and wrestled it away from a gunman who killed four people and injured four at a Waffle House in Tennessee.

Seventeen people were killed and 17 injured in the Florida shooting, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 14 February.

“I met one of my heros today,” Shaw tweeted, below a picture taken with Emma Gonzalez, one of the leaders of the Parkland students’ push for gun control reform which led to emotional speeches at the March for Our Lives in Washington in March.

James Shaw Jr. (@JamesShawJr9) Meeting the young adults of the Parkland incident so much fire and inspiration in their eyes was a great joy pic.twitter.com/DLPJ01K8e2

Another prominent voice in that movement, David Hogg, tweeted his own selfie with Shaw, saying: “Wow just, wow @JamesShawJr9 lots of work ahead but the young people will win.”

Shaw responded: “Thank you great meeting you all, let’s keep inspiring and bringing ppl together.”

James Shaw Jr. (@JamesShawJr9) I met one of my heros today@Emma4Change pic.twitter.com/EQZYERiRGE

Another Parkland survivor, Samantha Fuentes, had something to celebrate. Three months after the attack, she said: “My face is finally shrapnel free!”

Fuentes tweeted a photo of her face on Saturday, showing a wide smile despite bruises and a hospital bandage stretching from her ear to her mouth.

“Regardless of the fact I look like I lost a fight, inside I’m winning in a way. I’ve been struggling so hard to love my face again, thank you for all your support,” she wrote.

The speech Fuentes gave in Washington was memorable not only because she led the huge crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” for Nick Dworet, a classmate who was among the 17 people killed in the attack, and who would have turned 18 the day of the march. She also had to interrupt her speech to throw up behind the podium.

Fuentes is among the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who have made a point of reaching out to other young shooting survivors as they campaign for gun control. She was honored with a Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN, the literary and human rights organization, for representing “an inclusive group of young people” in that effort.