At 26, Parkland Survivor Donovan Metayer Dies, Reminding Us of Trauma’s Long-Term Consequences
In December 2025, the community that still carries the echoes of one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history was confronted with a profoundly sorrowful reminder:
surviving an act of mass violence does not end the struggle that begins with it. On December 15, Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, a survivor of the February 14, 2018.
Mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, died by suicide at the age of 26, his family announced.
Donovan’s passing has drawn renewed attention to the enduring effects of trauma, the persistent challenges faced by survivors, and the urgent need for sustained, compassionate support long after the headlines fade.
Donovan, affectionately known as “Donny,” was a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when a gunman opened fire on Valentine’s Day 2018, killing 17 students and staff members and injuring many others in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.
The massacre abruptly transformed the lives of students, educators, and families, and sparked nationwide debates over school safety, gun policy, and mental health services.
In the immediate months after the shooting, Donovan’s family says the young man began to change. Once described as thoughtful, bright, curious, and brimming with potential, he began withdrawing from friends and activities he once enjoyed.
According to relatives, depression, guilt, emotional instability, and long periods of isolation replaced the vibrant young man they had known.
Though he had once dreamed of attending college and pursuing a career in computer science, the emotional toll of the trauma made these ambitions increasingly difficult to realize.
Over the years that followed, Donovan faced profound mental health struggles, including episodes of severe psychological distress and periods of hospitalization.
His family said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia—a chronic mental health condition that he battled for several years after the attack.
Like many individuals living with serious psychiatric illness, he faced a complex journey with treatment, therapy, medication, and the daily effort to manage symptoms in a world that offers limited support.
The family shared that Donovan was hospitalized multiple times for suicidal ideation and had at times been held for emergency mental health treatment under Florida’s Baker Act, a law that allows temporary involuntary psychiatric intervention for individuals in crisis.
This episode also included a Risk Protection Order that temporarily prevented him from purchasing a firearm — one of several legal tools intended to protect individuals during moments of acute risk.
In the years that followed these struggles, Donovan began to find some stability. He earned an information technology (IT) certificate, began working at Office Depot in Coral Springs, and was promoted—milestones that brought pride and hope to his family.
He also worked with mental health professionals, including a private psychiatrist and the Henderson Behavioral Health Clinic, which his family described as a “lifeline” that offered care, understanding, and continuity of support.
Despite these strides, Donovan’s long battle with schizophrenia and the lingering effects of trauma remained a daily reality. In early December 2025, his family learned that a long‑standing Risk Protection Order had lapsed.
With the legal restriction no longer in place, Donovan purchased a handgun at a local gun shop. A week later, he took his own life in the family home. His passing came just weeks before his 27th birthday.
In announcing their son’s death, Donovan’s family emphasized that the loss was not just deeply personal, but tragically familiar.
They described it as a heartbreaking reminder of the national mental health crisis affecting young people, the “lasting trauma of gun violence,” and the significant gaps in the systems meant to help those in need.
