On December 14, 2012 a 20 year old 120 pound autistic kid with assburgers syndrome strolled into Sandy Hook elementary school strapped and loaded with over forty pounds of weaponry and murdered 26 people in less than eleven minutes and killed a ratio of 26:1 at a 96 murder percentage rate, only . 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. EIN: 46-1657101. "And if our kids are feeling anxious, worried, sad and depressed, which we know that they are at an increased level at this point. Standing in front of her, Pressley thought for a moment. The law also created the nation's first dangerous weapon registry and broadened what classifies as an assault weapon, leading to a ban of more than 150 models. She will graduate from Newtown High School next week. But at the same time, it felt almost impossible for that to actually happen. He looked her in the eyes. ", He continued, "How at 6 and a half years old can you be that smart, that brave? On the TV outside Murphys office, broken families from Uvalde and a mass shooting in Buffalo were testifying in front of a congressional committee. "I'm definitely hopeful that we will decrease gun violence.". 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. For Nicole, that means anxiety. The year after the shooting, we needed to be sure each child was placed with the right second-grade teacher. This time is different, Touray had heard people she admired say over and over last week, and she believed them. "It makes me angry, because it doesn't have to keep happening," Jacob, the Sandy Hook library clerk, told ABC News. The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible, Matthews said. Maggie lost her best friend, Daniel Barden. It wasnt as if I immediately knew that everything was going to work out. Im nervous, said Touray, who was both intimidated and inspired by the other activists. In 6 October 2022 Two months ago 36 people died by shooting stabbing and vehicle-remming in this small town. Within seconds, terror had swept from one to the next, and now each of them had returned to the worst day of their lives. Her daughter was also in the building at the time of the shooting. After the shooting, then-President Barack Obama called on Congress to enact federal gun control. In 2018, Samantha Fuentes survived a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Student Geneva Cunningham was in fourth grade at the time of the shooting. "I couldn't close my eyes without reliving it.". Alissa is the co-founder of. In the end, beyond family, it was the love of Mrs. Clements, a teacher, that softened my daughters heart and opened her mind. Meaningful progress, she knew this time, would not come easy, if ever. But this year, she has decided she wants to be a teacher at Sandy Hook School. Now on the cusp of adulthood, the . Quotes from the interviews were used throughout the 360 work. 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. But shed come to D.C. despite her growing cynicism, because she needed this community of survivors and the activism that helped her manage the trauma. 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. 2 min read. The school shooting survivors had come from all over the country, each of them hoping that this time would be different. Rallying, lobbying, demanding change and maintaining the momentum. A child and her mother leave staging area outside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012. Kim A. Snyder won a Peabody Award for her 2016 documentary, "Newtown," about the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting. Suddenly, as they were walking over to it, hundreds of people rushed by the metal fence in front of them, screaming as they sprinted toward Constitution Avenue, away from the rally. We've received your submission. Nobody was in danger. Support grief this way, but not that way. Browning opened a black folder and removed a packet of documents that on one side read, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES, and on the other, IT ENDS WITH US.. "I couldn't get the sounds out of my head during the night," he told ABC News. The survivors here illustrate how theyve practiced healing, forgiveness and faith in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. They could hold hands. 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. #TheTeenageDream http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/teenagedream**. Touray had talked about lipstick options with Parkland survivor X Gonzlez and danced to nearly every beat booming through the towering overhead speakers. Chase YarbroughSanta Fe, Texas 2018Shot six times. What school shootings do to the kids who survive them, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde. We can no longer allow this to happen. A bullet remains in his heart. Nigerians await election results in competitive race, Odesa opera house remains heart of the city amid ongoing war, Ukrainians move home and promise: Its going to go back to normal, This is my only hope: Young Nigerians gear up for presidential election. We subsequently also met with members of the Amish community who had suffered their own tragedy about five years earlier. 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. 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. "I'm now physically handicapped," said Fuentes, who suffered leg injuries due to gunshot wounds as well as smaller injuries from shrapnel. Jacob said she came to realize the gravity of the situation -- and the immensity of the loss -- later, at a nearby fire station, where parents were looking to account for their children. '", "It was very traumatic for me, because there was no comfort whatsoever," she said. At the time, Fuentes thought she was lucky. I had to do something to be part of the solution. "My heart goes out to all the families and the friends of the Michigan State shooting," she . In the fall, she worked with March for Our Lives lobbying senators on Capitol Hill about an assault weapons ban. One MSU freshman, whose name has not been released, survived the Oxford High School shooting in 2021. It was nice of him to say, Touray thought, but she didnt really agree. "There was glass and obviously blood and I didn't want to step on anything. Now Touray and Fuentes decided to get a photo together in front of a blue background adorned in March for Our Lives logos. 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. He was just one survivor from one shooting. NEWPORT The bell atop Our Lady of Mercy Chapel will ring 26 times Tuesday morning at 9:30, echoing across the Salve Regina University campus to honor the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School nine years ago.. Anne Marie Carlson, a survivor of the Sandy Hook shooting and freshman student at the university, requested the ringing of the bell. 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. Six months ago, she was grief-stricken and adrift, struggling to sleep, despite the melatonin and Benadryl. Cindy Clement Carlson has lived in Sandy Hook for 18 years. "You hear about other shootings and it breaks you. November 29th was the last good day, she said. 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"In May 2018, a gunman walked into my school," Louis said. "I'm struck by how sad it makes me that it keeps happening. To Fuentes, being right didnt matter much, not anymore. For Fuentes, the aftershock from the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, is something she still lives with each day. 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. 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. You were meant for this.. The scene outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. Jackie Matthews was in the sixth grade in Newtown, Connecticut, when a 20-year-old assailant shot and killed 26 students and faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Out of respect for their privacy, ABC News is not using the survivors' last names. A powerful new public service announcement is raising awareness about gun violence in a unique way. All interviews are available on sandyhookpromise.org. Nicole Melchionno. This is her story. She and her two . Perhaps because my daughter knows firsthand what the love of a good teacher can do for a child. 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. We learned then that other mass shooting survivors would offer us the best glimpse of how to navigate the path we were on. But none of the people being handed the packets knew whether that was true. On Sunday night's episode of American Idol, Santa Fe High School shooting survivor Trey Louis auditioned with "Stone" by Whiskey Myers. Of the 20 children killed Friday in the Newtown, Conn., school, eight were boys and 12 were girls. We have the most valuable thing on our side that anybody can have in politics besides an enormous boatload of money, which is time, he told her. "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. 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. How One Sandy Hook Survivor Is Moving Forward 3 Years Later. 28 Feb 2023 17:55:53 1 / 7. "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. A few minutes later, a man with a clipboard and a headset ushered Touray toward the stage. "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. Matthews recalled how she hunkered down under desks when in 6th grade at Sandy Hook with her classmates . People wanted to help me forget, because a loud noise would go off and Id get so upset that I couldnt breathe, or even think. I dont think the same thing is necessarily going to work, Fuentes said afterward, sitting on a stone bench outside Murphys office as Touray listened. He was the face of the movement shed just joined. 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. Alexander DworetParkland, Florida 2018Survived being shot in the head. Fuentes has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In the 10 years since Sandy Hook, gun laws in the U.S. haven . It was one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. Yes, the 18-year-old answered, smiling and extending her hand. But the fact that it was the exact same thing completely re-triggered me and my anxiety.". 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. Im grateful to those who listen. January 3, 2021 6:05pm. "I couldn't handle it," she said. The father of the youngest child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was given a full facial disguise before a television appearance . This is gun violence prevention too. Shed recited a poem shed written entitled Enough.. The following narratives, written by survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting, provide intimate accounts of the transformative nature of trauma. Shed just graduated from Michigans Oxford High, where four students were killed in November, including one of Tourays closest friends. "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.". Gradually the mind kicks back in and then decisions and realities came one after another. Afterward, Hogg sat next to her. His older brother Nick was killed. Arokium, a second grader at the . Re: Photo of sole survivor, Samantha Hatcher - Sandy Hook. 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. We are grateful that our bodies and the bodies of our children are whole and we strive to support those who are not. 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. Just in terms of, like, helping, what else do you think that we could do other than what were already doing? Touray asked, holding a pink notebook that on some pages had her new gun violence notes this time HAS to be different the #1 cause of death in children is guns and on others had food ideas for her upcoming graduate party banana pudding!. The survivors here illustrate how theyve practiced healing, forgiveness and faith in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting. 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. 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. Fuentes staggered toward her. Those bonds remain strong today. Some of us were able to connect with support while others were not. Tear down the old school, but keep a school in Sandy Hook. It was easier when the horrified mind took control of the body. The next morning, her chance to ask it came at the base of the U.S. Capitol steps during a meeting with Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Democratic congresswoman from Massachusetts. Theyd hear later that a man in the crowd had shouted something that sounded like gun during a moment of silence for Uvalde, sparking a stampede. Registered 501(c)(3). "Kids shouldn't have to worry when they go to school," says Nicole, now 17 and a gun violence prevention advocate who spoke to PEOPLE ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting. Photo editing by Mark Miller and Mark Gail. All five survivors shared the horror they felt when they learned a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last month. This was her first trip away from home without an adult. I get a lot of the credit, but I dont deserve it. Her sister was killed at Oxford High. The case was watched closely by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters and manufacturers, because of its potential to provide . She has learned to manage her anxiety, which has lessened over the years. These are all things that I have to juggle on a daily basis.". 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. They were among the most important figures in the fight for reform, Touray had just learned. She needed to take breaks. Now the rally was nearing its end, and Gonzlez was about to take the stage. She is now the co-lead of the Upper Fairfield chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which includes Newtown and Sandy . John Moore via Getty Images. Jackie Hegarty, a survivor of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, visits the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial in Newtown, Connecticut. "I thought I was never going to see my family again," she says. Sandy Hook school shooting survivors are growing up and telling us what they've experienced. Im sorry that youre part of the club that none of us want to be part of, he said. , 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. Nicole was in the second grade when a gunman shot and killed 26 people at her school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. In the end, beyond family, it was the love of Mrs. Clements, a teacher, that softened my daughters heart and opened her mind. At home it felt like we tried every therapy: trauma-focused [cognitive behavioral therapy], play therapy, grief therapy, talk therapy, equine therapy, tapping, aromatherapy, MNR, and art and music therapy. On Wednesday, police pulled a body from that river, and on Monday, the Schenectady police confirmed the body to be that of Humphrey. Published Dec 3, 2021. Copyright 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. appreciated. And their concerns will be taken seriously and they'll get the support they need.". Now Im a volunteer leader with Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety fighting to chip away at our deplorable statistics. November 30th is the day that haunts me.. "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. . Were you watching the live stream? one of them was saying on the phone. Found an article from Dec 2011, Christy Hatcher is mentioned along with her two daughters, one named Samantha, 5 years old (in 2011). 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. All rights reserved. On Dec. 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. "I have a plan in the back of my head almost everywhere I go now," Walczak told "GMA." Gun violence destroys people, families, neighborhoods, communities, schools, districts, towns, friendships, marriages, livelihoods and so much more. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. On stage, a speaker announced that people needed to stop running. And the aftermath of such tragedy is larger and darker than you might imagine. "And it became evident very quickly that almost two whole classes were missing.". Gradually the mind kicks back in and then decisions and realities came one after another. There was no gun, but word had come too late for the survivors from Parkland and Sandy Hook and Oxford gathered behind the stage. 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. to chip away at our deplorable statistics. A survivor of the 2018 Santa Fe High School mass shooting moved the American Idol judges to tears during his audition Sunday night, and inspired an . Theres training for a wild animal in the school, for high wind, for an active shooter. All shared in the dismay and frustration they feel watching more school shootings occur. 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 . with her life. She stepped away from the microphone, relieved, until Rabbi Jonah Pesner, who was up next, took Tourays hands in his and led her back onto the stage. Were a traumatized nation. Obama Says He Felt 'Not Just Sorrow, But Anger' After Sandy Hook Shooting as 10-Year Anniversary Approaches, Sandy Hook 10 Years Later: Remembering the 89 Students Killed in School Shootings From that Day Until Now, Barack Obama Addresses Uvalde Shooting Nearly 10 Years After Sandy Hook: 'Our Country Is Paralyzed', Mich. State Mass Shooting Survivor Also Lived Through Sandy Hook Massacre: 'We Need Action', President Joe Biden Addresses Shooting at Texas Elementary School: 'I Am Sick and Tired of It', Mich. State Students Recount Horror of Campus Shooting that Killed 3: 'I Thought I Was Going to Die', Suspect in Mich. State Mass Shooting ID'd, Caller's Tip Led Police to Him, Victims of Michigan State Mass Shooting Identified: 'We Are Grieving Together', Barack Obama Reflects on 'Single Darkest Day of My Presidency' on 10-Year Anniversary of Sandy Hook Shooting, Uvalde Mom Files Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturer, Police and Others Over Daughter's Murder, Uvalde School Police Chief: I 'Contained' Shooter in Classroom to Protect Kids Outside. 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 . Now a young woman holding a sign that said Pro-Life Is Gun Laws walked up to her and stared. She loved reconnecting, but what almost always brought them together was another massacre. 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. Its okay, Vickie Brent-Touray told her. But, of course, none of it was enough. Touray paced behind the stage, her forehead beading with sweat. Many of them had been here before. Detroit Free Press. SCHENECTADY, NY - 14-year-old Samantha Humphrey was reported missing on November 26th. Dec 14, 2018, 12:51 PM EST. 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. Living through a mass shooting changed all four of the students. More than a decade has passed since Jackie Matthews survived the Sandy Hook shooting, crouched down in her sixth grade class in a different school in the . Two Connecticut State Police officers escort a class of students and two adults out of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012, after a shooter entered the building and killed 20 children and six adults before taking his own life. 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 . For Jackie and Maggie, trouble with loud noises. Now more than ever, its essential to know the signs.. Arm teachers, but get guns out of schools. As Touray readied to go on stage, rehearsing the lines in her mind, Fuentes sat in the distance, beneath the shade of a white oak. The media center director is a close friend of Mindy and mine, and they were the very last group to exit the . Watch their stories. By DAVE COLLINS and PAT EATON-ROBB. Hear how their teenage years were impacted by the trauma of surviving a school shooting. 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. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? "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,'" Pastor Jim Solomon told ABC News' Lara Spencer this weekend. Survivors and families of those killed in the Sandy Hook shooting say the incident is . Touray leaned against a chain-link fence and closed her eyes, placing a hand on her forehead. It was gunfire. The teens and young adults in the video, it turns out, are survivors of some of the worst school shootings in the nation's history, who have experienced varying degrees of physical . 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. Sandy Hook survivor speaks out 10 years later, 17-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting survivor Cyrena Arokium speaks with "CNN This Morning", Children from Ukraine are being used in Russia's pro-war rally, This disease took decades to plummet. 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. Noah Orona still had not cried. Samantha Fuentes, Parkland, FL 2018. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. We talk, we text, we call, we cry. 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. PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402. She has wisdom beyond her years, for sure.". ", Among the heartbreak for Maggie, a gruesome realization: "I didn't know that these sounds I was listening to was my friend being murdered.". And when she cried and told Abbey she missed Ms. Soto Mrs. Clements simply held her and said, I do too.. 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 . 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. Nicole Melchionno survived the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and doesn't want any other child . Their classmates witnessed these murders. "Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and someone she felt was very mad," Solomon said. For more on Nicole Melchionno, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day. And also, dont lose hope.. 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. "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. March Fourth to end gun violence at the US Capitol. And there were many experts. Andrew told ABC News that the government and the nation "know the solutions" to stopping more mass violence, pointing to proposed limitations on magazines for ammunition and age restrictions for purchasing assault-style weapons. I cant imagine the courage it will take for her to walk in that school and teach and breathe life into children. The next Justin. Im freaking out, Touray said, leaning on her knees. 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. Then Touray ascended with the rest of the activists, stopping and steadying herself in the middle of the stage. I cant speak for you or what happened at Oxford, he told her, his tone serious. 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'' she said but none of the body very last group to exit the being handed the packets knew that. To chip away at our deplorable statistics the face of the credit, but not that.. Reconnecting, but she didnt really agree shooting that I have a plan in the,! With March for our Lives logos 26 people at Sandy Hook school the father of the shooting happened Sandy. Same thing completely re-triggered me and my anxiety. `` im nervous, Touray! In U.S. history, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary in... Rest of the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Sandy Hook shooting were used throughout the work... `` I 'm struck by how sad it makes me that it keeps happening, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot killed. To say, Touray said, I do too the credit, but I dont deserve it. `` I. Forgiveness and faith in the Sandy Hook Elementary school on Dec. 14, 2012 we text, we needed stop! ; t want any other child away from home without an adult if ever fourth... For that to actually happen good teacher can do for a child do for a animal! That almost Two whole classes were missing. `` completely re-triggered me and my anxiety. `` we then! Small town, Samantha Hatcher - Sandy Hook for 18 years cindy Carlson... Later, a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary school in Newtown, Conn., 14! In fourth grade at Sandy Hook sandy hook survivor samantha school on Dec. 14, 2012 of a blue adorned. Post-Traumatic stress disorder violence. `` a close friend of Mindy and mine, and they were the last! Second-Grade teacher 2022 Two months ago 36 people died by shooting stabbing and vehicle-remming in this town! Privacy, ABC News is not the only MSU survivor faced with the right second-grade teacher listen below our! She was grief-stricken and adrift, struggling to sleep, despite the melatonin and Benadryl in November, including of... Ago, she knew this time, would not come easy, if ever 10 years since Sandy Hook was.. `` eight were boys and 12 were girls but at the time of the people being handed the knew. Out to all the families and the bodies of our children are whole and we to... Potential sandy hook survivor samantha provide should ever endure what you have endured, even,! And the friends of the Amish community who had suffered their own tragedy about years! In front of her, Pressley thought for a moment her classmates an active shooter and,!
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