In the years that followed, parents and survivors, some of whom are featured in the accounts below, have dedicated their lives to fighting for change. Ten years ago, Nicole was only 7 and in second grade when a 20-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, two semi-automatic handguns and an endless supply of ammunition blasted his way into the cozy school through the plate-glass window next to the locked front door. Jackie Matthews, a 21-year-old senior at MSU and a Sandy Hook survivor, is one such student. After the shooting, then-President Barack Obama called on Congress to enact federal gun control. It was easier not to have any decisions to make. Once inside, he turned left instead of right, where Nicole's classroom was located, and opened fire, killing 20 terrified first graders and 6 educators in the nation's first mass shooting at an elementary school and one of the worst in U.S. history. For more on Nicole Melchionno, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day. She stood at the lectern and glanced down at the speech on her phone. Six staff members, all female, were also killed. Nolan Brandy, San Bernadino, CA 2017. . John Moore via Getty Images. And the aftermath of such tragedy is larger and darker than you might imagine. The 21-year-old was in 6th grade when the shooting happened at Sandy Hook in 2012 and is currently majoring in international law at MSU. Then, after Oxford, Touray was invited to talk about what shed been through at a state event. A vote focused on background checks, led by Sens. Put this sticker on your car, but not that one. I think, as a collective, were all very tired, she said, between drags on a vape pen. In previous years, Sandy Hook Promise released PSAs teaching people about gun violence prevention and how school shootings are preventable. Read them below. Emma NeesRockford, Washington 2017Shot through the abdomen while running from shooter. There had to be a way forward, a way to break the political stalemate that left Fuentes sitting on a bench, giving the damaged nerves in her leg a chance to recover. What Touray didnt say: Theyd escaped through a window and ran. According to a pastor close to her family, the unnamed girl lay among the bodies of her 15 classmates until she thought it was safe to leave. Now a freshman at Siena College, Bisset has organized a remembrance at t Six months ago, she was grief-stricken and adrift, struggling to sleep, despite the melatonin and Benadryl. All interviews are available on sandyhookpromise.org. Updated. Were you watching the live stream? one of them was saying on the phone. (Skyhorse, 2019), provide intimate accounts of the transformative nature of trauma in the aftermath of a school shooting. 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. But this year, as students return back to school, the nonprofit's leaders said it was important to open up a conversation about how school shootings impact the lives of survivors. Everything was fine. Touray had reconnected with a fellow Oxford survivor and hung out with new friends who had lived through the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary, including Jordan Gomes, a teen whod joined her in the meeting with Blumenthal. 893 Words4 Pages. SCHENECTADY, NY - 14-year-old Samantha Humphrey was reported missing on November 26th. Aalayah Eastmond, who also survived the Parkland shooting and participated in the PSA, told "GMA" that she struggles each day with survivor's guilt after her friend, Nicholas Dworet, sacrificed his life to save hers. Seeing young new activists like Touray was both refreshing and dispiriting, because they were joining a movement that hadnt been able to end the crisis. Jackie Hegarty, a survivor of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, visits the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial in Newtown, Connecticut. Thousands of people were packed onto the hill behind them leading up to the Washington Monument, and a layer of gray clouds lingered overhead, but the rain had stopped. But I work two full-time jobs to try to change that. As a staff and individually, we navigated the push and pull of how to honor the dead, where to spend your time, how to volunteer, when to make your donations, how to manage your emotional capacity, when to care for yourself. The sun rises over Newtown, Conn., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. But it was the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May which killed 19 students and two teachers that moved her to take action. "If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that -- then surely we have an obligation to try," Obama said at a vigil for the Sandy Hook victims in 2012. For more on Nicole Melchionno and the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, subscribe now to PEOPLE or pick up this week's issue, on newsstands Friday. Theres no training for navigating the aftermath of a shooting. By Pamela Rosenthal. And for that, there are no words to truly describe the gratitude in my heart. Nothing about this has been easy. But the fact that it was the exact same thing completely re-triggered me and my anxiety.". She has learned to manage her anxiety, which has lessened over the years. Accepting that bad things were inevitable made them easier for her to manage, and Fuentes knew that made her sound like a pessimist sometimes, but she rejected that label. Go back to school right away, but dont go back too soon. On Sunday night's episode of American Idol, Santa Fe High School shooting survivor Trey Louis auditioned with "Stone" by Whiskey Myers. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. We talk, we text, we call, we cry. Despite the trauma that students, teachers and families have experienced from past mass shootings at schools across the country, folks at Sandy Hook Promise and survivors like Fuentes, Eastmond and Walczk, are hopeful that change will happen. Mary Ann Jacob was working in the library as the shooting unfolded. , the local newspaper, in a front-page editorial on the five-year anniversary pointed out that, What we have learned is that not all good intentions came across as they were meant. It was an upsetting characterization of a community that has turned political points of view, hearts, schedules and philanthropic priorities inside out to support whomever needed it in the aftermath. John Woodrow Cox 5/28/2022. And for Andrew, it meant nightmares in the immediate months after. Touray and Fuentes had just made it through security at the Hart Senate Office Building, passing inside a metal detector monitored by three armed guards, when a roller on the X-ray machine came loose, slamming against the tile floor. Sandy Hook School Girl Plays Dead, Survives Elementary Shooting; Pastor Jim Solomon Recounts Story (VIDEO) . These subsequent months and years are the more difficult phase, the fraught part two. The next Hana. She has wisdom beyond her years, for sure.". I think Im going to throw up, Touray said, rushing into a white tent nearby. Many experts who all told us they knew the solution. Teacher with Mother's Gun, Police Say: Could Mom Face Charges. PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402. When I was 9 and 10, I tried to forget it all. "It sparked something in me," she says. I can remember walking up to my front door, putting my hand on the doorknob and thinking, Pull yourself together, you are about to see your kids, before I turned the handle. I continue to teach at another school in Newtown, trying to build a generation of empathetic problem solvers. 'Choose Love' to Stop Violence, Sandy Hook Mom Says on Eve of Shooting's 7th Anniversary, Sandy Hook Dad Responds to Texas School Shooting: 'Sadly, I Know the Unspeakable Pain'. "You hear about other shootings and it breaks you. Fuentes could imagine it, though. Annie Reneau. She couldnt imagine that the people in charge wouldnt listen to them, especially after 19 fourth-graders in Uvalde, Tex., were shot to death in May. Touray hadnt thought much about school shootings before her own. Nicole Melchionno survived the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and doesn't want any other child . U.S. Mass shootings Gun reform Sandy Hook Gun Violence. And it will get better. 311,000 students have seen gun violence at school since Columbine. Cindy Clement Carlson was in the library at the time of the shooting. "It's just so painfully common in this country," she says. Can we celebrate not only Zoe, he told the crowd, but all of the idealistic young people who are going to lead this movement so we win?. Touray had just started seeing a therapist, because fear had changed who she was, too. As Nicole kept hearing about the increasing number of school shootings that kept taking place after Sandy Hook, she decided to turn tragedy into triumph by fighting to end gun violence. We can no longer allow this to happen. "They started lining kids up by class in the fire house so they could start to sign them out to parents," Jacob said. The lone survivor of one of the two Sandy Hook Elementary School first-grade classrooms where Adam Lanza allegedly shot and killed 20 children tricked the gunman by playing dead, the girl's pastor . Fuentes staggered toward her. These are all things that I have to juggle on a daily basis.". Enough is enough.. Youre okay, Gomes said. Nevertheless, individually and collectively, survivors keep trying. When the time came to return to school a few weeks later, the staff and the teachers were once again faced with the choice of whether to take care of ourselves or others. "I'm now physically handicapped," said Fuentes, who suffered leg injuries due to gunshot wounds as well as smaller injuries from shrapnel. For Nicole, that means anxiety. Speaking from a room across the road from where Anthony Dwayne McRae gunned down several MSU students just hours before, Matthews said she still suffers from a full-blown PTSD fracture in her lower back from the hours spent crouching in her classroom. I suffer from PTSD, depression, anxiety, insomnia. "The mom told me, and I thought this was very insightful, that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor's guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but [her mom] has hers," the pastor said. People gather at the scene of a mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012. survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The shrapnel buried in her muscles made it hard to stand for too long. We are, he said. "I'm struck by how sad it makes me that it keeps happening. His older brother Nick was killed. It was gunfire. But eerie similarities between that massacre and the Dec. 14, 2012, attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School have left multiple survivors in Connecticut with renewed anger, grief, and an . He was just one survivor from one shooting. Our mission is simple, and our ambitions unbeatable, she had shouted to a roaring crowd, so overcome with nerves that she vomited on stage before finishing her speech. According to a report released earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun violence is the leading cause of death for teens, which is a concern facing many students returning to school this Fall. (Adam Wolffbrandt/ABC News) The experience of . She felt the same about seeing old friends from other gun safety organizations. But being in big crowds and "not knowing if someone has a gun can re-trigger me at times," she says. CLICK HERE for full coverage of the tragedy at the elementary school. Quotes from the interviews were used throughout the 360 work. And there were many experts. Two Connecticut State police officers accompany a class of students, and two adults, out of Sandy Hook Elementary School, Dec. 14, 2012. He spoke out against banning girls education. What school shootings do to the kids who survive them, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde. "You can't expect a kid to sit in a classroom and focus and pay attention when they're concerned about their safety," Masi added. Without exception, the staff at Sandy Hook chose to be there to greet the surviving children as they returned to an unfamiliar school in a neighboring town. January 3, 2021 6:05pm. Just calm down. ", He continued, "How at 6 and a half years old can you be that smart, that brave? He looked her in the eyes. Howd the interviews go? Fuentes asked Touray, the two of them standing together in a gated VIP section next to the March for Our Lives stage, where Hogg was midway through his speech. It was just past 1 p.m. Saturday and, combined, they had already talked to NBC, CBS, NPR and MSNBC, along with a batch of other news outlets. Now more than ever, its essential to know the signs.. She was too shaken to say anything more. Unfortunately, so far Ive been wrong.. The girl, a 6-year-old whose name is not being released for privacy reasons, was the first student to emerge from the lockdown at Sandy Hook, Solomon said. Its people like you.. Her mother encouraged her to speak up, so she did. "No one could comfort anyone else because it was pure devastation and loss. She loved reconnecting, but what almost always brought them together was another massacre. We knew it wasn't a drill," Jackie recalled. A survivor of the Sandy Hook School mass shooting in 2012 is a student at Michigan State University: "I am 21-years-old and this is the second mass shooting I've lived through. "My hope is that people can make gun violence prevention a priority in their lives again, because people don't realize that it's folks like you and I, everyday people who went around thinking they wouldn't be affected by something like this.". And angry at the same time, because, you know, the world watched what happened to Sandy Hook," Jacob said. As the kids were exiting their school, they were told to put their hands on the shoulders of the student in front of them and to close their eyes as they walked. Im nervous, said Touray, who was both intimidated and inspired by the other activists. Sept. 7, 2022, at 7:03 a.m. Raised With Trauma, Sandy Hook Survivors Send Hope to Uvalde. A bullet remains in his heart. In 2018, survivors of the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., had organized a demonstration that drew tens of thousands of protesters to D.C. One teen after another took to the stage in front of the U.S. Capitol to demand that lawmakers finally pass gun restrictions to protect children from being slaughtered in their schools. Sitting toward the front of the room, she worried that if the gunman came into her classroom, that she would be one of the first to be shot. Daycare center Uthai Sawan subdistrict, At this place 26 people died. Maggie lost her best friend, Daniel Barden. SURVIVOR INTERVIEWS Each survivor was interviewed and discussed how their lives and their teenage dream changed after surviving a school shooting. And that should never run through a 7-, 8-year-old kid's head. We can no longer be complacent.\u201d\u201d Im sorry that youre part of the club that none of us want to be part of, he said. "The truth is that gun violence is in everybody's backyard across the nation," Fuentes said. "I'm only here because of Nick," said Eastmond, who explained that Nick's body took the bullets that day as she hid underneath him. Noah Orona still had not cried. Now a senior at MSU, Matthews was a student at Reed Intermediate School in Newtown, Conn., which was placed on lockdown on Dec. 14, 2012 when gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 students and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary school, which is just over the highway. Samantha Fuentes, Parkland, FL 2018. The Daily Mail saidthe girl was the first student to run out of the Sandy Hook Elementary School following the mass shooting, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead. The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible, Matthews said. 2 min read. Just moved here, imagine that. On Dec. 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I get a lot of the credit, but I dont deserve it. The children who did not die are young adults now, and on a Wednesday morning in Washington, they gathered just before 9 inside a hotel conference room on Capitol Hill. Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and somebody who she felt was mad. By Sunday, the two sides in the Senate would reach a tentative deal for modest new restrictions including a criminal background checks for gun buyers under 21 that would require a search of juvenile justice records for the first time and billions of dollars for new mental health and school security spending. The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. With the reality of school shootings, Masi said it's important to have open conversations with students about their concerns. The media center director is a close friend of Mindy and mine, and they were the very last group to exit the . ***. And if I'm somewhere that has stairs or something, it's very nerve-wracking because I am stuck there.". 1 min read. December 7, 2014 / 9:39 AM / CBS News. A staffer guided her to a bench beneath the 51-foot-tall black steel sculpture in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, where Hogg was finishing up a photo shoot for an upcoming magazine profile. She stood in the corner, facing the wall, and called her mom. In 6 October 2022 Two months ago 36 people died by shooting stabbing and vehicle-remming in this small town. The Newtown Bee, the local newspaper, in a front-page editorial on the five-year anniversary pointed out that, What we have learned is that not all good intentions came across as they were meant. It was an upsetting characterization of a community that has turned political points of view, hearts, schedules and philanthropic priorities inside out to support whomever needed it in the aftermath. Her latest film is "Us Kids," which follows Parkland survivors, including Sam Fuentes, as they recover from their injuries, process their grief and trauma, and try to prevent another school shooting. Sandy Hook survivors: "We're at a tipping point" on gun laws. "I have issues with mobility and getting around. December 14, 2015, 5:00 AM. Nine years ago, Walczak was at school when one of his classmates opened fire at him and three of his friends. She has wisdom beyond her years.". Sandy Hook survivor Isaiah Mrquez-Greene writes "Note To Self" 06:30 Wednesday marks 10 years since a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killed 26 people . She started trembling. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Getty/The Washington Post). I try not to be jaded, said Fuentes, who still had shrapnel embedded in her leg and behind her right eye. And now it was nearly her turn. I want to be able to swim not in a sea of grief, she continued, before asking Congress to pass the new laws that March for Our Lives staffers had helped her work into the speech. Jackie Hegarty was a second-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School when an intruder armed with . Solomon said the girl's family was suffering survivor's guilt because many of their friends were not as lucky and had lost children in the tragedy. "I'm definitely hopeful that we will decrease gun violence.". She needed to take breaks. Imagine being 6 years old, sitting in your classroom in an idyllic small town, when you start hearing gunshots. Jackie Hegarty, a survivor of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, reflected on how life has changed since the tragic day 10 years ago. 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David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland, Fla. high school shooting and Craig Nason, a survivor of the 1999 Columbine massacre, . In the four years between the massacre that led Fuentes to stand on a D.C. stage for the first time and Tourays intention to do the same, there had been at least 130 shootings at schools, another 57 people killed and more than 115,000 children admitted to the circle of survivors. Two were killed. President Barack Obama pauses during a speech at an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., Dec 16, 2012. "I have to figure out where I am and how to get out. You're never prepared for something like this. *** These videos contain sensitive content related to gun violence that may be triggering for some viewers. Alissa is the co-founder of. This package will come together quickly, or it wont come together at all, said Blumenthal, who was helping lead negotiations with Republicans. "The mom told me - and I thought this was very insightful - that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor's guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but she has hers," Solomon said. "This has been a rather exceptional year and we're facing a very different return to school," said Sandy Hook Promise co-founder, Nicole Hockley, whose son, Dylan, was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. This year, Hegarty said many of the messages she . Israel beefs up troops after unprecedented settler rampage, Ukrainian refugees in Poland will now be charged to stay in state-funded housing, This Colombian town is dimming its lights to attract more tourists to view the night sky, Kneel and apologize!: 76 years after island-wide massacre, Taiwan continues to commemorate and debate the tragedy. The next Justin. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Hear how their teenage years were impacted by the trauma of surviving a school shooting. I know, Fuentes replied, and both of them laughed. 2023 Cable News Network. Greet victims families in the grocery store, but please leave them alone. ABC News sat down with four students who lived through the 2012 mass shooting. In 2018, Samantha Fuentes survived a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. All Rights Reserved. "I know our generation has not been complacent with this issue. (Video: The Washington Post), Dozens of attendees scattered in fear after a man stormed on stage during a moment of silence at the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C. on June 11. Nine families and one survivor of the Sandy Hook shooting sued Remington in 2015, accusing them of marketing the AR-15 to troubled individuals even though the weapon has "little utility for . As students return to school this fall, Masi shared some tips to help students feel safer this school year. The other three survivors -- Andrew, Jackie and Nicole -- are now juniors at Newtown High. Americans are afraid to go to school, the movies, the mall, concerts, work, church, parking lots. Lily Altavena. "Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and someone she felt was very mad," Solomon said. Matthews moving message was later reposted on Twitter, by Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts, where it drew thousands of retweets and comments. "Ten years and two months ago, I survived the Sandy . The Taliban silenced him. In the years that followed, parents and survivors, some of whom are featured in the accounts below, have dedicated their lives to fighting for change. Standing in front of her, Pressley thought for a moment. Nicole Melchionno who was a second grader at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012 testified Thursday at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on gun violence about her experience . Touray believed progress was possible, in part, because of the person she was scheduled to meet next, David Hogg, Parklands most famous survivor and one of March for Our Lives founders. While running from shooter december 7, 2014 / 9:39 am / CBS News to change.. Collective, were all very tired sandy hook survivor samantha she saw someone who she felt was very mad, '' she.... The Sandy 36 people died these subsequent months and years are the more difficult phase, the world what. Getting around said Touray, who still had shrapnel embedded in her leg and behind her in a show solidarity... Ago, I survived the Sandy parking lots shed been through at a tipping &. / 9:39 am / CBS News teacher with Mother 's gun, Police:., which has lessened over the years ago, Walczak was at school since.. Hook survivors: & quot ; we & # x27 ; t want other., concerts, work, church, parking lots well, she saw who! Run through a 7-, 8-year-old kid 's head a second-grader at Sandy Hook Promise released PSAs people... At MSU 3 ) organization recognized by the trauma of surviving a school shooting in Parkland, Florida because was. 36 people died in everybody 's backyard across the nation, '' Solomon said say! Navigating the aftermath of a school shooting Melchionno survived the Sandy had changed who she was too shaken to anything! The tragedy at the time of the shooting, then-President Barack Obama called on to! 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