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Ten years ago, 20 first graders and six educators were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Jackie Hegarty was only 7 years old when the trajectory of her life, and those of her classmates, changed forever. She was a second-grade student at the school.
“It just so happened the first hallway that the gunman had chosen was mine,” Hegarty said. “It was just a matter of what side that he chose. He chose the other side. I was in the first classroom on the (opposite) side.”
Twenty of her fellow students and six educators were killed on Dec. 14, 2012.
“It’s really hard to process that, and I’m still processing that 10 years later,” Hegarty said. “No one deserves to see the things I saw when I walked out or to hear the things I heard.”
The unthinkable tragedy in a quiet Connecticut town prompted loud calls for action and reform. The unrelenting grief and shock many felt from this didn’t put an end to the violence.
Since Sandy Hook, there have been more than 1,000 school shootings across the United States.
