May 18, 2018

“I’ve Always Kind of Felt Like Eventually It Was Going to Happen Here Too”

A Santa Fe student gives a devastating interview about the predictability of school shootings.

Shortly after at least eight people were killed inside Santa Fe High School in Texas Friday, a 17-year-old student who survived the shooting appeared on ABC’s Houston affiliate station to share details of the harrowing experience.

Her head down for most of the interview, Paige Curry told the interviewer that she was three classrooms away from where the gunman opened fire, before she and her classmates moved to hide behind a stage area where authorities later rescued them.

“I was very, very scared,” Curry said. “I had to have someone keep me calm. I managed to keep calm through it all. There was another girl who was just freaking out. They were struggling really hard to keep her calm.”

The interviewer then asked, “Was there a part of you that was like, ‘This isn’t real. This would not happen in my school’?” 

“No, there wasn’t,” Curry responded, shaking her head.  “It’s been happening everywhere. I felt—I’ve always kind of felt like eventually, it was going to happen here too.”

The clip was quickly shared on social media, where many expressed heartbreak over how pervasive, and predictable, school shootings in America have become.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayqm0rMbG1A

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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