Hours after she escaped the Columbine High School shooting, 14-year-old Missy Mendo slept between her parents in bed, still wearing the shoes she had on when she fled her math class. She wanted to be ready to run.

Twenty-five years later, and with Mendo now a mother herself, the trauma from that horrific day remains close on her heels.

It caught up to her when 60 people were shot dead in 2017 at a country music festival in Las Vegas, a city she had visited a lot while working in the casino industry. Then again in 2022, when 19 students and two teachers were shot and killed in Uvalde, Texas.

  • jumjummy@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I’m sure the fact that nothing has changed with the US attitude towards gun violence, mental health, and even to some extent bullying, lends itself to prolonged trauma.

    I mean, after Sandy Hook happened and nothing substantial changed… yeah, it’s a cancer in this country.

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The Hour I First Believed written by Wally Lamb does a good job of blending fiction with this tragic event.