After murdering his mother at their home, Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School before taking his own life. The . NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) The survivors who were able to walk out of Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly a decade ago want to share a message of hope with the children of Uvalde, Texas: You will learn how to live with your trauma, pain and grief. Why is everyone running? Fuentes asked, voice quavering, her eyes wide and watery. "My heart goes out to all the families and the friends of the Michigan State shooting," she . "I think as well as you can expect them to," he said of how the girl's mother and father are handling the trauma. But Hogg wanted her to understand that he meant it. Katie Bisset was a third grader huddled in the corner of her classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Cindy Clement Carlson was in the library at the time of the shooting. "I was in my second-grade classroom. Her sister was killed at Oxford High. Nicole was in the second grade when a gunman shot and killed 26 people at her school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. Out of respect for their privacy, ABC News is not using the survivors' last names. The following narratives, written by survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting, provide intimate accounts of the transformative nature of trauma. "There was glass and obviously blood and I didn't want to step on anything. 17 people were killed. Now a young woman holding a sign that said Pro-Life Is Gun Laws walked up to her and stared. , 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. Emma NeesRockford, Washington 2017Shot through the abdomen while running from shooter. But none of the people being handed the packets knew whether that was true. Im grateful to those who listen. 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 survivors speak out for first time -- and share heartache 'that it keeps happening' ABC News sat down with four students who lived through the 2012 mass shooting. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Fuentes has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. "I couldn't handle it," she said. 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. "It's like the epitome of what you imagine -- the typical teenage American life, the carefree worries of what that era of your experience is. Its people like you.. Americans are afraid to go to school, the movies, the mall, concerts, work, church, parking lots. The following narratives, written by survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting and excerpted from the book. The year after the shooting, we needed to be sure each child was placed with the right second-grade teacher. 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. "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.". The sun rises over Newtown, Conn., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. 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. For Nicole, that means anxiety. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Getty/The Washington Post). 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. She was represented by a speaking agency and, before the pandemic, traveled a couple times a month to speak at colleges and nonprofits. I continue to teach at another school in Newtown, trying to build a generation of empathetic problem solvers. Discovery Company. We can no . A group of survivors, including Fuentes and Touray, had been asked to stand behind her in a show of solidarity. Teacher Abbey Clements was in her classroom at the time of the shooting. "And there was no action after that.". And when she cried and told Abbey she missed Ms. Soto Mrs. Clements simply held her and said, I do too.. Now the rally was nearing its end, and Gonzlez was about to take the stage. Two were killed. Walczak was shot four times and the last bullet paralyzed him. Jacob was in the library at the time and locked 19 students in a closet to keep them safe. A bullet remains in his heart. Alexander DworetParkland, Florida 2018Survived being shot in the head. 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I cant imagine the courage it will take for her to walk in that school and teach and breathe life into children. He would have turned 18 that day. Today, Sandy Hook Promise -- a nonprofit organization led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012 -- released a video of survivors of school shootings reciting lyrics from Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" to show others that for victims of school shootings, the teenage dream is not what it used to be. Susie Ehrens daughter witnessed the shooting while in the classroom of Victoria Leigh Soto, who died trying to protect her students. So I did, I did open my eyes," she said. Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and somebody who she felt was mad. But the fact that it was the exact same thing completely re-triggered me and my anxiety.". Samantha Fuentes, Parkland, FL 2018. Within hours of surviving one of the worst mass shootings this country has ever seen, we had no choice but to put aside our own grief and trauma to take care of those around us. to chip away at our deplorable statistics. They could hold hands. Fuentes walked up first, and Gomes went behind her. By Pamela Rosenthal. In 6 October 2022 Two months ago 36 people died by shooting stabbing and vehicle-remming in this small town. Lily Altavena. At least three of her schoolmates have died by suicide since the slaughter that left 17 dead inside Stoneman. Sherlach, Sandy Hook Elementary's school psychologist, was with Hochsprung when they heard a "pop, pop, pop" sound around 9:30 a.m., a parent who was with both women . The joy of her conquering her greatest fear, is beyond my adult comprehension. "And if our kids are feeling anxious, worried, sad and depressed, which we know that they are at an increased level at this point. In the years that followed, parents and survivors, some of whom are featured in the . He had 1.2 million Twitter followers. This is my song, shed said to at least three different songs. "The truth is that gun violence is in everybody's backyard across the nation," Fuentes said. 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. December 14, 2015, 5:00 AM. 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. Put this sticker on your car, but not that one. (including 22 children) 268. I just got here and theres so many people and now Im speaking, she wrote in another text, before her mom called. And that was why, as the summer heat climbed above 80, she refused to take off the black sweatshirt that listed each of their names: Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling. But being in big crowds and "not knowing if someone has a gun can re-trigger me at times," she says. 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. "You hear about other shootings and it breaks you. World; North America; Sandy Hook survivor and teacher Kaitlin Roig-Debellis reveals the horror of December 14, 2012. It's been nearly nine years since the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting that rocked the U.S. in December of 2012, meaning that even those among the youngest survivors have recently entered high school. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. On 14 December 2012, 20 children - aged between five and 10 - and six staff members were killed at Sandy Hook when a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle before killing himself. She asked Touray to breathe with her. When she was 14 years old, Gabby Petito starred in a music video titled "Irreplaceable" to help spread awareness about violence against children after the Sandy Hook massacre. Hear how their teenage years were impacted by the trauma of surviving a school shooting. Browning, a March for Our Lives policy associate, skimmed through the pages of the packet, detailing all the items they wanted Touray and the others to pitch to lawmakers: universal background checks for gun purchasers, the Protecting Our Kids Act, an assault weapons ban. I try not to be jaded, said Fuentes, who still had shrapnel embedded in her leg and behind her right eye. She has wisdom beyond her years.". So she ignored her dread and got on the plane. Some of the earliest help offered was from surviving staff members from Columbine who wanted to come and support us. Maggie was in third grade at the time of the shooting. "This time, I wanted to focus instead on the lived experiences of people, the aftereffects -- because I don't think people focus on what happens after a school shooting and how that impacts lives for decades.". Courtesy Jane Dougherty. "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. 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We are grateful that our bodies and the bodies of our children are whole and we strive to support those who are not. Yesterday (Feb. 13), 43-year-old Anthony McRae killed three and injured . 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. This year, Hegarty said many of the messages she . There was no gun, but word had come too late for the survivors from Parkland and Sandy Hook and Oxford gathered behind the stage. Photo: Sasha Arutyunova. With this in mind, we have an easy-to-fill-outonline formthat just takes a couple of minutes to complete. But this year, she has decided she wants to be a teacher at Sandy Hook School. Part of HuffPost Personal. ", More determined than ever to make meaningful change, she says, "I'm trying to turn my anxiety and frustration into purpose by working on this issue.". Educators teach peace and nonviolence. After the shooting, she had terrible nightmares and trouble going to sleep. Jackie Matthews survived the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook and the MSU shooting Monday night. #TheTeenageDream http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/teenagedream**. She was too shaken to say anything more. PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402. On some days, the constant battling of fear and anxiety left my baby girl exhausted, and she often fell asleep in school, and often in the arms of Mrs. Clements. Nothing about this has been easy. It needs to be legislation, it needs to be action. "These are real things they're experiencing and the more we talk about it and the more we give those kids the voice to talk about it, the more that we're going to see change.". The school district floated the idea of bringing in substitute teachers if we were not up to returning, but not one staff member thought the kids should return to a school full of strangers. Nick WalczakChardon, Ohio 2012Shot three times. Fuentes understood. 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 . The next Hana. Why is everyone running?. 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. "It just really broke me to know that after 10 years of everyone giving us their thoughts and prayers, after 10 years of everyone saying, 'Enough is enough,' and, 'Never again after Sandy Hook' -- it happened again.". "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. 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. We talk, we text, we call, we cry. It's been nine years since a gunman murdered first-grader Jesse Lewis, 19 of his schoolmates, and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.. Jesse would be 15 now, the same age as some of the students at Oxford High School, where a shooting last week took the lives of 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre, 17-year-old Justin Shilling, and 17-year-old Madisyn . Wrote in another text, before her mom called is in everybody backyard!, including fuentes and Touray, had been asked to stand behind her in a show of solidarity daughter... Same thing completely re-triggered me and my anxiety. `` trip away from home without an.. And excerpted from the book shrapnel embedded in her classroom at the time of the earliest help offered from! 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