Maeson Wagner, Executive Editor
@mwagnercourant
Ten killed in Boulder, Colorado. Eight killed in Atlanta, Georgia. Six killed in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Two people killed and three injured in St. Louis, Missouri….According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 231 mass shootings in 2021. This averages to about 10 shootings each week. It is no secret mass shootings and gun violence have become public health emergencies.
One of the worst shootings of 2021 took place in Boulder, Colorado. In 2020 Boulder was declared the best place to live in the United States by US News and the World Report. In 2019, it was given a wellbeing score of 64.5. In 2017, National Geographic named it the happiest city in the country. But on March 22, 2021, the city faced devastation and heartbreak when 10 people were killed in a shooting at King Soopers Grocery Store, less than a week after the Atlanta Spa Shootings.
At 2:30pm, leisurely grocery shopping became a struggle for survival for Boulder citizens. Ryan Borowski, who was at the scene described the chaos, “We just all ran to the back of the store and out the back door and employees showed us the way…..And we told the employees what was going on. So, everybody helped each other and we just ran to safety as quickly as we could.”
Another witness, Sarah Moonshadow was shopping with her son when she heard the shots. Moonshadow and her son ran frantically to the parking lot trying to escape the massacre. She saw a body laying still on the pavement and instinctively ran to it, “My son said, ‘No, Mom! We can’t do anything.’”
People like the Moonshadows and Borowski managed to survive the shooting, but they will carry the heavy trauma of this event for the rest of their lives.
With the heartbreaking news of this event, and many others, I began thinking about how difficult it must be to carry the trauma of a mass shooting. Living in New Canaan, the closest contact I have had to a mass shooting is the Sandy Hook Elementary School school shooting of 2012. Eager to learn about the long-term effects of mass shootings, I spoke with math teacher and former Sandy Hook parent, Anthony Bloss.
Mr. Bloss’ three daughters attended Sandy Hook Elementary School and were in the building on the fateful December 14, 2012. “Still to this day, it’s almost eight and a half years later and it’s still hard to process and I still think about it every single day.” Mr. Bloss said.
Mr. Bloss was at a professional learning conference when he got the news there had been a shooting at Sandy Hook. Mr. Bloss was in the middle of a break when he got a call saying there had been a shooting at Sandy Hook. He was one of three Sandy Hook parents at the conference and they were all told to go home and “do what they had to do.” For Mr. Bloss this meant seeing if his daughters were safe.
Perhaps the scariest part of this situation was having a lack of knowledge about what exactly was going on. “I was trying to figure out where to go and what to do because the information was very spotty and I was getting mixed information. There were 15 minutes where I, quite honestly, didn’t know if my kids were alive” Mr. Bloss said. “As I was going down route 25 ambulances were flying by me and finally I got a call from another Sandy Hook parent saying that my girls were fine and to get there as soon as possible.”
Once he got to Newtown, Mr. Bloss was focused on one thing and one thing only, his three children. “I remember running to the firehouse where they were and once I saw them I completely broke down.” Mr. Bloss said. At this moment Mr. Bloss knew there had been a shooting but he didn’t know to what extent.
It is almost uncomprehansible for most people to think about a first grader memorizing sight words one minute and being shot the next. “It took a while to proccess and to really truly understand the severity of what had happened.”
The teachers of Sandy Hook school demonstrated acts of heroism and courage on the day of the shooting, going above and beyond to ensure the safety of their students. “My daughter’s teacher was shot in the foot (she told them she had stepped in paint) and had to sit with kindergarteners for two hours in pain.” Mr. Bloss said.
There are few events in a person’s life that impact them in the way the school shooting affected Mr. Bloss’ daughters. “The kids are okay talking about it, but I can’t lie they still have nightmares about it every once in a while, it’s something they are going to have to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Not many kids have the experience of being in a building during a surprise attack, but unfortunately my daughters do.”
It is human nature to feel anxious when out of control, and this holds true for individuals who have been through a shooting. “I think my kids struggle when something happens suddenly and they are not clear what is going on. Most kids would freak out, but I think my daughters might freak out more.” Anxiety surrounding unexpected events is one of the many repercussions survivors of mass shootings might carry with them every day.
After the incident in Newtown, other schools in Connecticut started practicing lockdowns and replacing windows with bulletproof glass. “There were certain safety advancements I don’t think would have occured if the shooting didn’t happen.” Mr. Bloss said.
The perpetrator of the shooting, Adam Lanza, faced severe mental health issues that were left untreated. According to the New Haven Register, “The gunman in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings showed an early preoccupation with violence, became increasingly isolated, and had been diagnosed with autism, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder — but he received minimal treatment.” While there was no one cause for Lanza to commit the mass murder, his preexisting conditions may have played a role.
While Mr. Bloss didn’t change his teaching methods after the shooting, he has become increasingly aware of the mental health issues facing younger generations. “I have always tried to be tough but caring, and that hasn’t changed. I am concerned about the level of stress, anxiety, and depression in my students. I would say after the shooting I have become more observant of kids individually, especially those who are struggling. While I won’t change the way I teach them, I make sure their issues are being dealt with in some way.”
Eight and a half years later, mass shootings continue. Between Friday, May 21 and Sunday, May 23, 12 mass shootings took place throughout the country. Eleven people were left dead, sixty-nine were left injured, and hundreds were left traumatized. The numbers tell us that there are thousands of stories just like Mr. Bloss’.
