Girl gets back special teddy bear lost in airport shooting
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Yards from where workers finished the cleanup from the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, a girl was reunited Tuesday with the teddy bear she left behind while fleeing.
Courtney Gelinas, 10, smiled as Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport spokesman Greg Meyer opened the trunk of his SUV to reveal Rufus, the teddy bear the Windsor, Ontario, fifth grader had received from her dying grandfather a decade ago. When Meyer handed her Rufus, she held the bear tight.
Courtney was with her parents and siblings and about to board a plane home when officials say Esteban Santiago fatally shot five people one floor below them Friday. Rufus, a brown bear dressed in a red devil costume, was left behind as the family fled onto the tarmac with hundreds of others. Her mother, Kim Lariviere, said Courtney has not slept well since.
“It is exciting and I am happy to have him back,” the bashful girl said as she pressed against her mother’s legs.