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Anthony Rizzo Leaves Spring Training in Wake of Florida Shooting in Hometown

The Cubs first baseman graduated in 2007 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school and went back home to help friends and family grieve.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

17 people were killed and at least 14 others were injured in a mass shooting at Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school yesterday. Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo grew up in Parkland and graduated from Stoneman Douglas in 2007. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Rizzo left Spring Training today to aid friends and family in the recovery process.

According to Gordon Wittenmyer, Rizzo and his family knew some of the victims, including assistant football coach Aaron Feis. USA Today reports that Rizzo played football for two years at Stoneman Douglas.

Rizzo maintains strong ties to the area, and still makes Parkland his offseason home. His teammate Alberto Almora, who is also from South Florida, said Rizzo took batting practice at the school during the offseason. In a recent segment on ESPN, Rizzo talked about growing up there saying "I love it here, it's so quiet."

Just last month, Rizzo held a charity fundraiser and personally donated $150,000 so the school could get lights installed for the baseball field. Due to lighting restrictions at the field, the team could not play night games and often had trouble finishing regularly-scheduled games before dark, which in turn made it hard to schedule games. When Rizzo heard about it, he jumped in.

The suspected shooter, a former expelled student named Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.