Parents of school shooting victims to Uvalde:
‘You don’t think that you’re going to survive, but you do survive’
Uvalde has brought back painful memories for parents who have lost kids in school shootings. Four such parents spoke to Insider about the heartache they felt in the Texas shooting’s aftermath. “It was like reliving Sandy Hook again for me,” one father said.
Several parents whose children were killed in past school shootings offered solace and guidance to grieving Uvalde parents as they reflected on the agonizing journey that
awaits the families impacted by last week’s mass shooting.
“There are no words,” said Patricia Oliver, whose 18-year-old son Joaquin was
killed at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
“There’s no situation that can give you that peace, that person that you lost back.”
Last week, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers, all of whom were in the same fourth-grade classroom. The massacre is the latest in an ever-growing list of school shootings that have exposed more than 300,000 American school children to gun violence in the past two decades.
The impacted Uvalde families now join a terrible but increasingly
populous club of parents who have lost children in school shootings.
Four parents whose children were killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting and the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary massacre spoke to Insider in the aftermath of Uvalde, sharing their outrage and heartache at the all-too-familiar scene unfolding in Texas.
Stirring painful memories
It’s been nearly ten years since Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis’ 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was murdered in his 1st grade classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. But watching the Uvalde tragedy unfold brought the painful memories instantly flooding back. “I can’t help but think, what I went through,” Heslin told Insider.
“It was like reliving Sandy Hook again for me.” Heslin is all too aware of the impossible tasks that await the Uvalde families: planning funerals, battling political agendas, and laying their small children to rest.
“It’s a long, long process and you never get over it,” he said.
The wounds are still fresh for Lori Alhadeff, who lost her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa Alhadeff at Parkland in 2018.
“It really brings back all the emotions from four years ago,” Alhadeff said.
Oliver, whose son was also a victim of the Florida shooting, said the Uvalde attack made her feel like her son’s murder had just happened that morning.
Once a family is unwittingly forced to join this awful club, it’s important that they realize that their healing journey will be lifelong and non-linear, the parents said.
“It’s like a roller coaster. You know, one moment you could be fine,” Alhadeff said.
“The next moment you’re walking in a grocery store and they could be playing music on the radio and it just emotionally breaks you down.”
Each person will cope differently, too, Oliver said.
“Everything is valid. You know, if you want to go out and dance, it’s valid.
If you want to get drunk, go on, do it,” she said. “But you have to…be you and
drain that pain that is gonna be with you, sadly, for the rest of your life.”
A man mourns at a makeshift memorial for the Robb Elementary School shooting victims outside the Uvalde County Courthouse in Texas on May 27, 2022. Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty ©
The small town of Uvalde — like Parkland and Newtown before it — has been descended upon by authorities, journalists, and do-gooders in the aftermath of last week’s shooting.
But the media circus will eventually die down and the country will move on to the next inevitable catastrophe, leaving the families alone with their grief, the parents told Insider.
“When the world leaves and when the friends and family leave, that is when the real healing work begins,” Lewis said.
Lewis, who started the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement following her son’s death,
said she found comfort in knowing that the country and the world mourned with her.
“Not only adults, but mostly children sending notes and offers of condolences and prayers,” she said. “That helped tremendously.”
Alhadeff encouraged Uvalde parents to take care of themselves and surround themselves with loving and supporting people as they grieve.
“Your friends, family, the community loves you, supports you and will help you move forward,” she told Insider.
Oliver, who knows these parents’ pain, said she was sending Uvalde “love” and “strength.”
“You don’t think that you’re going to survive, but you do survive,” Lewis said.
Exclusive: Surviving student in Uvalde elementary school shooting details what she saw.
Mom who ran into school during Uvalde, Texas shooting discusses moments inside.
Multiple people injured in shooting at Wisconsin cemetery
during the funeral. David K. Li and Suzanne Ciechalski
CHICAGO (CBS) — Police in Racine, Wisconsin, are investigating after several shots were fired at Graceland Cemetery, reportedly during a funeral for a man who was shot
and killed by police last month.
Racine Police have confirmed that, shortly before 2:30 p.m., multiple shots were fired at the cemetery. CBS 58 in Milwaukee reports there were “multiple victims,” but police could not immediately provide further details on how many people had been shot.
Police have urged people to avoid the area due to a “critical incident.”
CBS 58 in Milwaukee reports the Racine County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed they have not been called to the scene. Ascension All Saints Hospital, located about a half mile from the cemetery, is on lockdown.
Just before 2:30 p.m., multiple shots were fired at the cemetery, Racine police said
in a tweet. “There are victims but unknown how many at this time,” police said.
“The scene is still active and being investigated.”
Racine police asked people to avoid the area around the Graceland Cemetery,
along the 3600 block of Osborne Boulevard. Several streets were blocked.
Ascension All Saints Hospital, adjacent to the cemetery, went on lockdown.
According to the Racine Journal Times, residents reported hearing 20 to 30 shots.
It was not immediately clear how many people were shot or the extent of their injuries.
A Racine Fire Department official directed a reporter to the police department for information.
An interment for Da’Shontay L. King Sr., the man fatally shot by Racine police May 20,
was taking place at the cemetery Thursday afternoon, according to his obituary.
WTMJ-TV reported that an official at the Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home and
Crematory confirmed that the shooting occurred at King’s internment.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Multiple shots fired, unknown number of victims at Racine’s Graceland Cemetery
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