Theres no training for navigating the aftermath of a shooting. 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 . In the end, beyond family, it was the love of Mrs. Clements, a teacher, that softened my daughters heart and opened her mind. Photo: Sasha Arutyunova. I suffer from PTSD, depression, anxiety, insomnia. She stood in the corner, facing the wall, and called her mom. 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. Pressleys words left Touray feeling hopeful, even after a more somber meeting with Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, who told the group that he wasnt sure whether the Senate would pass any new legislation, and if they did, it wouldnt include many of the items they wanted most. We teach conflict resolution by talking out problems. Jones and his company Free Speech Systems have been found liable for $1.5 billion in two defamation trials over lies that Jones . His older brother Nick was killed. 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 said. He was just one survivor from one shooting. (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. Now Fuentes, 22, had come back for a second march, but shed long ago shed the naive hope of those early days. Shed just graduated from Michigans Oxford High, where four students were killed in November, including one of Tourays closest friends. "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. "In May 2018, a gunman walked into my school," Louis said. December 14, 2015, 5:00 AM. Story editing by Lynda Robinson. Like so many others who survived the shooting, she was also plagued with anxiety. Meaningful progress, she knew this time, would not come easy, if ever. 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. Now Touray and Fuentes decided to get a photo together in front of a blue background adorned in March for Our Lives logos. Maggie lost her best friend, Daniel Barden. Touray, who plans to study anthropology at North Carolina A&T State University, considered herself a courier of a message that her schoolmates would never get the chance to deliver. Hegarty, a Sandy Hook survivor, lost 20 young classmates and six educators in that shooting, which marks its somber 10th remembrance this year. God, why am I still crying? Touray asked, embarrassed, as she followed the group toward a waiting area near the stairs. 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. The 10-year-old's father, Oscar, couldn . Shed recited a poem shed written entitled Enough.. Shed heard of Parkland, but knew almost nothing about it. It was easier not to have any decisions to make. Save the next Madisyn. 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. Carlitos RodriguezParkland, Florida 2018Barricaded himself behind a door. The Uvalde shooting that left 21 dead and 17 more wounded instantly brought Arokium back 10 years to the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, on Dec. 14, 2012. Shed given so many speeches to approving crowds, lobbied in so many offices bedecked with U.S. flags and promises of American exceptionalism. Catalog this book for the school library, but not that one. She and her two . Some of the earliest help offered was from surviving staff members from Columbine who wanted to come and support us. When Nicole, who was just a girl when she survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a decade ago, first heard about the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, she broke down in tears. This year, Hegarty said many of the messages she . How difficult the aftermath is, and the decisions it entails, hasnt been easily understood. She and three other student survivors, as well as a school employee there that day, detailed their experience and the effects that day still has on them in an interview that aired Sunday with "This Week" co-anchor and Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz. So many are willing to share their stories with those who have and will suffer as we have. Advertisement "She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was, 'Mommy, I'm OK but all my . On Wednesday, police pulled a body from that river, and on Monday, the Schenectady police confirmed the body to be that of Humphrey. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. He was the face of the movement shed just joined. The following narratives, written by survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting, provide intimate accounts of the transformative nature of trauma. Paralyzed from waist down. She had learned over the past four years that guns were central to many Americans identities, but shed also learned that lots of gun safety laws could protect those people and their children from harm without stripping them of something they cherish. We talk, we text, we call, we cry. "And if our kids are feeling anxious, worried, sad and depressed, which we know that they are at an increased level at this point. Six months ago, she was grief-stricken and adrift, struggling to sleep, despite the melatonin and Benadryl. Trembling in fear, Nicole huddled with her teacher and classmates next to their jackets and hats in their coat cubbies as the crack of gunfire echoed through the halls. A brave six-year-old became the sole survivor of her first grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. because she played dead as shooter Adam Lanza went on his rampage. Im sorry that youre part of the club that none of us want to be part of, he said. Mary Ann Jacob, a library clerk at Sandy Hook Elementary, also detailed her experience to ABC News. "I'm so grateful for all of those that survived and have the strength and fortitude to be able to share their stories, to help save the lives of someone else," Hockley added. Part of HuffPost Personal. "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. He said the young girl described the shooter to her mom in a way that only a young child can. I was drowning. Im not. 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. EIN: 46-1657101. It was nice of him to say, Touray thought, but she didnt really agree. She imagined being shot, dying alone. The World is a public radio program that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. 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. Theres no training for navigating the. "I don't know that I would have the type of faith that they have if the same thing happened to me.". Fuentes was studying film at Hunter College in New York and worked at a jewelry wholesaler in Manhattan, but activism had long felt like her real job. At least three of her schoolmates have died by suicide since the slaughter that left 17 dead inside Stoneman. "They started lining kids up by class in the fire house so they could start to sign them out to parents," Jacob said. 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 . Within seconds, terror had swept from one to the next, and now each of them had returned to the worst day of their lives. It was easier when the horrified mind took control of the body. 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. And it will get better. Its people like you.. . Are you Zoe? Alexa Browning asked Zoe Touray, who was standing alone by the door, nervously fiddling with a cellphone wrapped in a Mickey Mouse case. 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. We can no longer allow this to happen. I feel like I cannot breathe right now.. 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. The sun rises over Newtown, Conn., Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. Congresss refusal to act had shaped every aspect of her life. Inhale for four seconds, she instructed, hold for seven, exhale for eight. "I thought I was never going to see my family again," she says. As the school district went into lockdown during the chaos, Matthews crouched in place with her . Jackie Matthews survived the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook and the MSU shooting Monday night. Theres training for a wild animal in the school, for high wind, for an active shooter. Courtesy Jane Dougherty. 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. "When we ran to our cubbies to hide, I remember thinking, you know, I should hide to the back of the classroom, to the other side, so that I don't get shot. ", He continued, "How at 6 and a half years old can you be that smart, that brave? 1 / 7. Im just a realist, Fuentes explained, and she was thinking about her sense of reality again during a meeting with Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat who had long championed new firearm restrictions. What school shootings do to the kids who survive them, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde. She will never again talk to her friend Helena Ramsay about their favorite musicians or joke with Nicholas Dworet in a Shakespearean accent. In the fall, she worked with March for Our Lives lobbying senators on Capitol Hill about an assault weapons ban. Isabelle LaymanceSanta Fe, Texas 2018Hid in closet with eight classmates. "I'm definitely hopeful that we will decrease gun violence.". She is returning this month with other teens to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting at the Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence. This is gun violence prevention too. Enough is enough.. David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland, Fla. high school shooting and Craig Nason, a survivor of the 1999 Columbine massacre, . \u201cA survivor of the Sandy Hook School mass shooting in 2012 is a student at Michigan State University: \u201cI am 21-years-old and this is the second mass shooting I\u2019ve lived through. But Murphy urged Fuentes, Touray and the other activists to keep doing what theyd been doing. 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. A vote focused on background checks, led by Sens. She started trembling. Its just a cowinkidence. So, it's not easy at all, especially being young. Everything was fine. 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"The intercom was left on, so everything was amplified," she says. "I felt that I needed to do more. Nicole Melchionno survived the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and doesn't want any other child to have to endure the nightmare she did. "And the fact that we saw what happened at Sandy Hook, and we saw how many children died, and how affected the survivors were, and how the ripple effects of gun violence affect so many people," she said. Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Fuentes has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. 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. She had 18. We've been having these conversations, forcing folks to sit down and recognize how important this problem is and how preventable it is," Eastmond said. In 2020, when she was a sophomore, she joined the Junior Newtown Action Alliance, which is part of the local gun violence prevention group Newtown Action Alliance, and became its legislative coordinator the following year. 1. 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. (Adam Wolffbrandt/ABC News) The experience of . There were no Hollywood celebrities leading chants, no pop stars belting anthems. Nothing about this has been easy. Youre okay, Gomes said. All five survivors shared the horror they felt when they learned a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last month. Then Touray ascended with the rest of the activists, stopping and steadying herself in the middle of the stage. I continue to teach at another school in Newtown, trying to build a generation of empathetic problem solvers. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking news? 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 . Sandy Hook school shooting survivors are growing up and telling us what they've experienced. "I was in my second-grade classroom. On Dec. 14, Jackie Hegarty of Newtown, Connecticut, knows her phone will be "flooded" with messages, as it is each year on that day, the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. Updated. Fuentes had spent the day exchanging hugs and jokes and silly memories with friends from Parkland she hadnt seen in months. Samantha Fuentes, an 18-year-old senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who was shot in both legs and face, spoke at the March for Our Lives rally. We can no longer allow this to happen. Touray rejoined Fuentes, who put her hand on Tourays shoulder. We are, he said. Im freaking out, Touray said, leaning on her knees. Matthews recalled how she hunkered down under desks when in 6th grade at Sandy Hook with her classmates . with her life. Afterward, Hogg sat next to her. Best friend killed beside her. She asked Touray to breathe with her. THE most traumatic day of Kaitlin's life left 28 people dead, including children. Aalayah EastmondParkland, Florida 2018Hid under body of classmate to survive a shooting. 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. In 2018, when she was in eighth grade, she started to become involved in gun violence prevention. Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on gun violence prevention. 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. Katie Bisset was a third grader huddled in the corner of her classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. With tears and blood streaming from her eyes, she had watched two of her friends die. Im hoping that you do it this time, though, Touray said, sensing Hoggs exhaustion after what had already been a frustrating week of discussions with lawmakers. Fuentes could imagine it, though. U.S. Mass shootings Gun reform Sandy Hook Gun Violence. We learned then that other mass shooting survivors would offer us the best glimpse of how to navigate the path we were on. Like |. In the end, beyond family, it was the love of Mrs. Clements, a teacher, that softened my daughters heart and opened her mind. Standing just outside the conference room, she watched Browning explain their schedule to Touray, who had been recruited to help lobby members of Congress and give a speech at an event that afternoon. Cindy Clement Carlson has lived in Sandy Hook for 18 years. You can focus on your healing and take care of yourself, honestly, Pressley said. All interviews are available on sandyhookpromise.org. The joy of her conquering her greatest fear, is beyond my adult comprehension. This time is different, Touray had heard people she admired say over and over last week, and she believed them. "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. You're never prepared for something like this. 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. Newtown Action Alliance/YouTube, @indigogloves/Twitter. Now Im a volunteer leader with Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety fighting to chip away at our deplorable statistics. The lawmakers they had begged to listen ignored them, and the school shootings continued. I just got here and theres so many people and now Im speaking, she wrote in another text, before her mom called. ABC News' Martha Raddatz interviews Sandy Hook school shooting survivors. 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. Like others who lived through the unspeakable horrors of that day, she remains scarred from the trauma she endured. February 28, 2023. Like the other survivors, Andrew called for gun reform -- an issue that remains intensely polarizing in Congress, where Republicans are reluctant to take up legislation they argue restricts the Second Amendment. Its not okay. Ultimately, music therapy would prove to be the most effective. My daughter has many years to decide what she wants to. Alissa Parker is the mother of Emilie Parker, who was murdered in the Sandy Hook shooting. Sunday Morning. At the Detroit airport the day before, she began to panic over what she would do if someone drew a gun. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. At the end of her speech on March 24, 2018, she led the crowd in singing happy birthday to Nicholas Dworet, one of the two friends whod died in her classroom. In 2018, Samantha Fuentes survived a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. RT @K12ssdb: This week Katy Perry (@katyperry) and @AmericanIdol put a spotlight on one survivor's story. 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 . Touray had arrived in D.C. unsure of whether she was meant to be an activist, but by Saturday, she felt convinced of it. The mission of Sandy Hook Promise is to educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. 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. He had 1.2 million Twitter followers. Pastor Jim Solomon told ABC News:"She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was, 'Mommy, I'm OK but all my friends are dead. Its okay, Vickie Brent-Touray told her. ", "Somehow in that moment, by God's grace, [she] was able to act as she was already deceased.". 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. Someone started yelling, and then people started ducking, and so we started running, because we thought somebody was trying to kill us.. Re: Photo of sole survivor, Samantha Hatcher - Sandy Hook. After Emilie died, I remember going out to our car to say a prayer with my husband, and as we started the prayer the words came to my mind, that everything was going to be OK, and that Emilie was OK. Unfortunately, so far Ive been wrong.. Americans are afraid to go to school, the movies, the mall, concerts, work, church, parking lots. A brave six-year-old became the sole survivor of her first grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. because she played dead as shooter Adam Lanza went on his rampage. . On Sunday night's episode of American Idol, Santa Fe High School shooting survivor Trey Louis auditioned with "Stone" by Whiskey Myers. Her daughter was also in the building at the time of the shooting. Fuentess message was on Tourays mind that night in her hotel room, where she left the bathroom light on because in Michigan she shared a bedroom with her younger sister and was sleeping alone for the first time since she was 4. 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. "There were neighbors telling us all the updates -- that a class had been found in a closet, that other people were still in the firehouse," she remembered of the aftermath 10 years ago. Just moved here, imagine that. 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. We can no longer be complacent." Now, at the hotel, Fuentes headed off to change into her blue March for Our Lives T-shirt, her black folder of talking points still unopened, and Touray found a quiet space on the other side of the room where she could study all of them, hoping to come up with a question that would somehow make a difference. Im nervous, said Touray, who was both intimidated and inspired by the other activists. "And there was no action after that.". This package will come together quickly, or it wont come together at all, said Blumenthal, who was helping lead negotiations with Republicans. Published Dec 3, 2021. I get a lot of the credit, but I dont deserve it. "There was glass and obviously blood and I didn't want to step on anything. Teacher Abbey Clements was in her classroom at the time of the shooting. Of, he continued, `` how at 6 and a half years old you., Aug. 18, 2022 daughter was also in the school, & quot ; said. 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