'Every child who goes to school should come home': Sandy Hook mum speaks out after Texas shooting
A mother whose son was killed at Sandy Hook almost a decade ago has said that she is "re-traumatised" every time another school shooting occurs.
Nicole Hockley - whose six-year-old son Dylan was killed during the Connecticut shooting in 2012 - spoke out after two adults and 19 children were killed in a shooting at a Texas primary school.
Tuesday's shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 85 miles west of San Antonio, is the deadliest school shooting in the state's history.
It is also the deadliest shooting at a US primary school since the attack at Sandy Hook which claimed the lives of 20 children and six teachers. Dylan was found in the arms of his special needs teacher.
In an opinion piece for USA Today published on Tuesday, she wrote: "Whenever there is a tragedy like this, I am re-traumatised.
"I relive the murder of my son, his classmates and educators. The sadness and anger are crushing."
She said that with each tragedy, she feels "compelled to help, to offer comfort".
Ms Hockley said she has travelled to Uvalde, Texas, to support the community in any way she can.
She said: "I will try to talk them through the unimaginable darkness of this moment. And let them know that while it will cast shadows over the rest of their lives, even in the shadows, there can be hope."
Following the Sandy Hook shooting, bereaved parents spoke out to call for greater gun controls.
Hockley reiterated that call.
"Gun violence and school shootings shouldn’t happen," she wrote.
"Every child who goes to school should come home.
"Together we can stop these atrocities – but only if we join together and commit to creating positive, sustainable change.
State governor Greg Abbot said the suspect was 18-year-old Salvador Ramos who was reported dead after he is believed to have been shot by police.He reportedly shot his grandmother - who is now in critical condition - before making his way to the school.
Hours after the attack, families were still awaiting word on their children.
Outside the town civic center, where families waited, the silence was broken repeatedly by screams and wailing.
“No! Please, no!” One man yelled as he embraced another man.
“My heart is broken today,” said Hal Harrell, the school district superintendent. “We’re a small community, and we’re going to need your prayers to get through this.”
The attack came just 10 days after a deadly, racist rampage at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.
And the prospects for any reform of the nation’s gun regulations seemed as dim, if not dimmer, than in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook deaths.
But President Joe Biden appeared ready for a fight, calling for new gun restrictions in an address to the nation hours after the attack.
Speaking from the White House on Tuesday evening, President Joe Biden asked: “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name do we do what we all know needs to be done?”
“Why are are willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?” Biden said, adding later, “It’s time to act.”
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