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USA's Alexa Scimeca Knierim and USA's Chris Knierim compete in the pair free skating event during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on Feb. 15, 2018.
Aris Messinis—AFP/Getty Images
Updated: | Originally published:

U.S. Olympic figure skating duo Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim said Wednesday that they skated in honor of the victims of Wednesday’s mass shooting at a Florida high school.

“We wanted to skate for the 17 children that died in the Florida shooting. And today was much more than about us,” Scimeca-Knierim said in an interview after their performance in the pair figure-skating finals on Wednesday.

At least 17 people were killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday. The suspected gunman — a former student at the school who has been identified as 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz — has been taken into custody.

The ages of the shooting victims have not yet been released. The incident marked the 18th school shooting so far this year.

Some Olympics viewers took to Twitter to say they had been moved by Scimeca-Knierim’s words about the Florida shooting.

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Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com.

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