Ten years ago on December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot 20 first-grade students, six teachers, and his mother. The shooting took place in Newtown, Connecticut at Sandy Hook Elementary.
It all started when Lanza repeatedly shot his mother after grabbing multiple firearms from his mother’s collection. It was the middle of the morning when Lanza arrived at Sandy Hook. The shooting took place within five minutes and it ended with Lanza killing himself.
The event left many people distraught, confused, and concerned, seeing as it was an elementary school.
“It’s horrible. It’s really horrible. It’s hard to believe that someone would kill children, innocent children,” said Irene Hagen, grandmother of Charlotte Bacon who was one of the victims of the shootings, to CNN.
The children were so young, most only 6 or 7 years old. It left many people devastated by the loss of their child, a friend, or a sibling.
“You will go from a loved big brother with a 24/7 sidekick to an only child in under ten minutes,” wrote Isaiah Márquez-Greene, a survivor of Sandy Hook, in the CBS series “Note to Self”.
Márquez-Greene discussed how this event affected his life.
“And I won’t lie, it will leave you lonely and it won’t ever stop hurting…Imagining who she would be if she were still here will keep her alive in your heart because you knew her better than anyone else did. That’s what will help you in your toughest moments.”
Another survivor is Jackie Hegarty who is now a senior at Newton High School. She often recalls how the kids were escorted out of the building, in a line holding each other’s shoulders. She was terrified and later confessed to News-Times that she had a case of survivor’s guilt.
“I can’t even compare to these kids who had so much potential. I feel like I’m not good enough because I feel like they could have done more. I felt like I should have not walked out because they were kids that were better than me.”
The shooting destroyed many futures. The young victims would have been part of the class of 2023. Many survivors of Sandy Hook are forever remembering that right now their classmates could have been dancing with them at Homecoming or sitting right next to them in class.
