Six survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have recalled the horrors of the massacre 12 years after the tragedy as they prepare to graduate from high school.
The lives of teenagers were indelibly marked by one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States on December 14, 2012, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 26 people, mostly children, at his school in Newtown, Conn.
Emma Ehrens was six years old when Lanza broke down the doors to her classroom while she was reading a book with a circle of young students before opening fire.
‘I remember I was at the front of the classroom, and he came in and stood right next to me. And I saw all my friends fall,” Ehrens told Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos.
‘One of the victims (who) didn’t make it, told me and a couple of other people to run, and we did.
Six survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have recalled the horrors of the massacre 12 years after the tragedy as they prepare to graduate from high school.
‘We ran out of the classroom, out of the school, and on the way we saw bodies in the hallways and doors torn off their hinges.
“And we just ran and ran and ran, out of the school, out of the parking lot.”
Henry Terifay was just seven years old when he ran out of his classroom after hearing gunshots on December 14, 2012.
He said he will carry a permanent tribute to the friends he lost that day on graduation day.
“I have my friend’s name tattooed on my shoulder so it stays with me every day,” Terifay, now 18, told GMA. “I just try to remember them every day.”
Matt Holden, who was six years old when the shooting occurred, said the most vivid memory of the day for him was watching his mother break down in a way he has never seen since.
“Once we finally got out of school, I remember we were walking to the fire station and my mom ran up to me crying, and I didn’t know what happened at the time,” she told GMA.
‘I didn’t understand the severity of the whole thing, but I knew that if my mom was crying, my mom was so, so scared that, you know, something horrible had happened. I’d never seen her like that before and I’ve never seen her since. I hope I never do it.’
Henry Terifay was just seven years old when he ran out of his classroom after hearing gunshots on December 14, 2012.
Emma Ehrens was six years old when Lanza broke down the doors of her classroom while reading a book to a circle of young students.
Matt Holden, who was six years old when the shooting occurred, said the most vivid memory of the day for him was watching his mother break down in a way he has never seen since.
Ella Seaver, who was seven years old at the time of the tragedy, said she even now has a hard time talking about the shooting.
“Still, even more than 10 years later, it’s still very difficult to try to dig up those memories because of how traumatic and painful it is,” Seaver told GMA.
“For me personally, when I can talk to these other five people, it’s comforting in a way, because you have this connection that will never go away.”
She added that the experience had sparked a desire in her to become a therapist to help people heal from trauma.
“I basically knew I wanted to be a therapist since I was eight years old, which was actually only a year after the shooting,” Seaver said.
“I’ve been in and out of therapy almost my entire life, especially after the shooting, and it really helped me cope and learn about myself, so I want to try to contribute and help people who have gone through the experience of weapon”. violence, or even people who haven’t, who are just struggling in their daily lives.’
The teens lamented that they feel little has changed since Sandy Hook, and that the same tragic story continues to repeat itself in schools across the United States.
In fact, school shootings have skyrocketed, with more than 1,600 reported nationwide since 2012, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Six survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have recalled the horrors of the massacre 12 years after the tragedy as they prepare to graduate from high school.
Emma Ehrens and Lilly Wasilnak were friends in elementary school. They talked about the shooting 12 years later as they prepared to graduate high school.
The lives of teenagers were indelibly marked by one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States on December 14, 2012, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 26 people, mostly children, at his school in Newtown, Conn.
“I really thought Sandy Hook would, you know, surprise people and wake everyone up,” Terifay told GMA. “But it keeps happening over and over and over again.”
Holden added that the situation seemed “hopeless.” ‘The friends, the family that were lost that day, the smiling faces that should fill the seats in your classroom, the parents that should be able to see their children graduate, get married, children will never be able to hug their parents again. . “This never ends,” she stated.
Lilly Wasilnak, who was six years old at the time of the shooting, said she worries about her future children.
“As unfortunate as it is, it’s going to happen to someone else and it’s going to keep happening to someone else until people like us have to make the change,” Wasilnak, now 17, told GMA.
“We’re worried about the day we have kids, and I don’t want to send them to school like our world is.”
Adam Lanza (pictured), 20, killed 26 people at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. Then he shot himself.
Pictured: First responders gather at the scene of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut.
Seaver said if he could see one change in gun reform it would be to establish “regulations on AR-style assault weapons.”
On the morning of December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother Nancy Lanza, then 52 years old, with a .22-caliber Savage Mark II rifle.
Investigators found her shot four times in the head and in her pajamas at her Newtown home.
Lanza then drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, armed with her Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and 300 bullets.
He killed 20 children, all aged six and seven, and six members of staff.
