Anti-gun violence advocates gathered in Washington D.C. this week to mark 12 years since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school.
Twenty first graders and six school employees died in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012.
Cali Taylor is a student at Newtown High School and co-chair of Junior Newtown Action Alliance, a group that seeks to prevent gun violence.
“My mom was a second grade teacher at Sandy Hook School the day the tragedy happened,” Taylor said.
“She was there at the time of the shooting, and by chance, she and her students were able to walk out of that building,” Taylor said. “Make no mistake; their lives were changed forever. While I was not in the building that day, it has continued to impact my life.”
Taylor, who was 4 years old at the time of the shooting, said at that age, she could not process what had happened. When she was in elementary school, she said she was afraid to use a bathroom in her school.
“This bathroom had a window in it, which seemed so insignificant, but for this very reason, I avoided using the bathroom whenever I could,” Taylor said. “I feared that someone would come in through the window while I was in there and try to harm me.
Parents who lost their children in the Sandy Hook shooting recently reflected on gun violence in conversations with Connecticut Public.
Francine Wheeler’s son, Ben, was killed in the shooting. He was 6 years old.
“It’s really, really important to imagine if it was your child, or your spouse, or your mom, or dad,” she told Connecticut Public’s “The Wheelhouse.” Because it’s part of my body. It’s part of my brain. It’s part of my music. It’s part of my writing. It will never not be part of my life.”
Wheeler is doing her own work to end violence, teaching kids to develop empathy, self-awareness and social connection. She founded a charity in her son’s memory, called Ben’s Lighthouse.
Nelba Marquez-Greene's daughter, Ana, was also one of those killed.
Marquez-Greene said she's dedicated her life to raising awareness about the toll of everyday shootings and their far-reaching impact.
“Gun violence has been an issue in Connecticut for decades before Newtown,” Marquez-Greene told Connecticut Public. “There are mothers and grandmothers and pastors in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New London, who have dedicated themselves to activism and it’s never gotten any legs.”
Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, with a disproportionate impact on communities of color, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. The U.S. Surgeon General has declared gun violence a public health crisis.
Marquez-Greene also hosts the Yale School of Public Health podcast "Shared Humanity," where she continues to advocate for change.
Connecticut Public’s Patrick Skahill contributed to this report.
