- A shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas left 19 children and two adults dead.
- Onlookers urged the police to enter the school as they could hear shots being fired inside.
Nearly a decade after Sandy Hook — the deadliest
We asked parents from around the country how they were dealing with the news of the school shooting at Robb Elementary. Overwhelmingly, the responses were anger, sadness, and fear for their children's safety.
Devastated, angry, and worried about their kids' mental health
The shooting at Sandy Hook took place five days before Janell Fabiano's first child was born, and she sobbed in fear for her child's future. Now, the Limerick, Pennsylvania, mom said she's vacillating between grief and rage at "the complete failure of adults to protect our children." When Fabiano tried to explain the Texas shooting to her now 9-year-old, she was overcome with tears. "I tried to keep it together, but failed," she told Insider.
Bree Shrivell of Mystic, Connecticut, said she's "very weepy and very angry." Shrivell was a young reporter working in a Connecticut newsroom when Sandy Hook happened, and the Texas shooting brought her back to the devastation of that time. "I'm so angry that we're still here, that nothing has changed in 10 years — in fact, it's worse. That we care so little about kids that we just let this be their lives," she said.
Nina McCollum of Cleveland, Ohio, said she feels angry and sick. Because she shares custody with her son's father, she doesn't get to see her son every day. On Tuesday night, the boy was with his dad, so the next day, she drove to her son's school at lunchtime and sat in the parking lot to reassure herself he was OK. "There was a class playing outside," McCollum said. "They were roughhousing and running through the grass, throwing a ball around, and laughing. They don't know how horrible it is."
Laurie Syphard of Baltimore said that her 6-year-old was traumatized by an active shooter drill this year in school, so she's avoiding the topic altogether. With her 11-year-old, who's likely heard about the event at school, she's keeping the conversation minimal. To stay in a positive frame of mind, the family is watching wholesome shows together. "I want to preserve my kids' mental health as long as I can," she said.
Shocked, gutted, and ready for change
Gina Lauria of Wilmington, North Carolina, said she was gutted but not even remotely surprised by the news. "America has already made a choice. Time and again, after every mass shooting, America chooses guns. They say it's the price of freedom — our kids are going to have to keep paying up," she said.
Connie Chang is angry, too. The San Francisco mom said that what happened in Texas could happen anywhere, to anyone. "I know people say that these things are complicated, but I don't think it's complicated at all to put in some basic, common-sense guardrails — guardrails that most privileges that carry the possibility of injury — driving, flying, etc. — require," Chang said.
Sturbridge, Massachusetts, mom Sarah Prager said hearing the news made her want to leave the country. That's a choice Darcy Tuscano made seven years ago — gun violence and active shooter drills were the single mom's main reasons for leaving the United States. "My kids were born in New York City and lived in the USA until age 5. I decided to move rather than put them in a public school," she said. Tuscano now lives in the south of Spain with her 12-year-old twins.