![]() He was smart, kind, funny and always ready to help his friends. “It is inhuman.”Ī friend of Dominic Blackwell: He would tease me about being blonde, and I would tease him about being short." Did ROTC together. “It kind of hits close to home.”Īdded Tyler: “It is absolutely despicable to think someone would go into an elementary school and massacre little kids,” he said. “I knew Dominic since kindergarten,” said Tyler Roberts, 17, a junior. Some of the juniors and seniors remembered their fallen classmates, Dominic and Gracie. ![]() “I will always feel different due to what happened.” We have to process it ourselves,” Tara said. Her classmate, Tara Kitterman, 17, also a junior, said the counseling and wellness centers only apply some salve to the open wounds from the shooting and repeated lockdowns that followed. “It was the worst feeling in the world.”Īlmost three years later, Briana said those memories have not left her. “I know exactly how the parents - those who didn’t know what the status of their of their child was - felt,” Benavidez said. She was eventually reunited with her family. She dropped her phone and ran for cover with her classmates. Isabel, who was 15 at the time, was practicing with her band outside when she heard gunshots. “The thought crossed my mind that she may have been a victim, she may have been dead,” he said. He was unable to reach his daughter, Isabel, for almost an hour. Meanwhile, parents like Mark Benavidez rushed to the school, fearing the worst. I knew something had to have happened,” she remembered. “I saw my fellow classmates running at me and I was seeing their expressions go pale. In 2019, Briana was standing at the front gate of the school when she heard gunshots. “The only thing we can do is send our love.” ![]() “We are stuck in this helpless feeling,” said Briana Nodine, 17, a junior who knew one of the slain students, Gracie. The news of the massacre in the Texas school brought back haunting memories and added to the stress of Finals Day at Saugus High on Wednesday. Meanwhile, some students who were on campus the day shots rang out - who are now juniors and seniors - say they still don’t feel safe. However, many are hesitant to use the hotlines to single out their classmates to authorities, some Saugus High students said. In addition, administrators created a Threat Assessment Team to identify and evaluate troubled students who might be at risk of committing violence. The district also has revamped a call-in line to allow students or parents to anonymously report any suspicious behavior, called the Student Care Line. Since the 2019 shooting, the district has added “wellness rooms” at each campus where students can go if they are feeling down or stressed. Hart Union High School District, which Saugus High is a part of, doubled down on emergency training at all of their schools in the wake of the 2019 shooting, district spokesman Dave Caldwell said.Ĭlassroom windows are now protected by a bullet-resistant film and law enforcement maintains a regular presence on WHUSD schools. Some teachers had just learned how to use the trauma kits they wound up treating bullet wounds with.Īs similar, previously-unimaginable tragedies continue to happen in America, school administrators are searching for ways to reassure families that their children will be safe. Students and staff had recently participated in an active-shooter training session when gunfire broke out. Three other teens were hit before the shooter turned the gun on himself. Gracie Anne Muehlberger, 15, and Dominic Michael Blackwell, 14, were killed. 14, 2019, a 16-year-old Saugus High student whose father had died two years earlier opened fire in the campus quad.
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