Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of gun violence and murder. Reader discretion is advised.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred more than a decade ago in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012. Now, the survivors are graduating with mixed feelings as they remember the 20 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting who were once their classmates. Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting, a documentary short currently streaming on Netflix, looks into the tragedy. The film received the Best Documentary Short award at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
CNN reported that Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza went to school on the morning of December 14. He wielded a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle and two pistols and wore black fatigues and a military vest. Lanza, then 20, fatally shot more than 20 students, teachers, and staff members. The tragedy occurred after 9:30 a.m. during regular class hours. Shortly after, the shooter turned the gun on himself and died at the scene. Before the shooting, Lanza had also killed his mother, Nancy, at home.
Sandy Hook Shooting: How many victims died & was the elementary school demolished?
Adam Lanza fatally shot 26 victims during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012. These victims included 20 first-graders and kindergartners, reported CNN. The remaining six victims were teachers and other staff members. Investigators believe that Lanza had also murdered his mother at home before driving to the school where he once studied.
The outlet stated that the shooter, Adam Lanza, used a handgun to shoot himself as law enforcement officers closed in. The 20 students that Lanza killed were between the ages of six and seven. The six adults included Lauren Rousseau, a substitute teacher, and Victoria Soto. Other victims were the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung and psychologist Mary Sherlach, among others.
According to Fox News, Connecticut State’s Attorney revealed the following November that Lanza had “significant mental health issues.” These issues “affected his ability to live a normal life and to interact with others, even those to whom he should have been close.” Additionally, the report alleged that mental health professionals “did not see anything that would have predicted his future behavior” despite having worked with the shooter.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School was demolished, and in 2016, a new school was opened to replace the old structure. Now, the survivors are graduating after losing 20 of their classmates to one of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S. AP News reported that as they graduate, these 60 students honor their fallen classmates during the ceremony.
Many of these Sandy Hook Elementary School survivors are reflecting on the tragedy that occurred more than 12 years ago. High school senior Grace Fisher told CNN that “it’s just going to be heartbreaking.” She said it’s difficult to “imagine that 20 kids are not graduating with us and that they’re not having the opportunity to walk across the stage.”
Another senior Emma Ehrens added, “Thinking about all the what ifs: what if they were sitting next to me at graduation, what if we were still friends, where would we be? It’s just going to be a lot of what ifs in my head.”
Emma recalled the shooting at Sandy Hook, “A guy – armed – came into my classroom.” She claimed the gunman then “started shooting all of my friends and my teachers and my classmates.” She said the shooter’s gun “jammed,” and her friend Jesse Lewis “yelled at them to run. Emma said, “That’s what we did.” Unfortunately, Jesse was one of the victims of the tragedy.
Notes from Dunblane: Lesson from a School Shooting is now streaming on Netflix.
