The time before Christmas is supposed to be filled with joy and happy news. But in the recent spate of events haven’t been too great lately.
1. 10th December:
Singapore’s own SAF Serviceman: Chee Weng Fai Jason was critically injured where he lost both his limbs, 1 arm and 3 fingers and is still in ICU as seen in my previous blog post HERE
Then this morning when I woke up, my Facebook feed was filled with condolence posts regarding another recent incident which shocked not just me, but the whole world in general. In case you haven’t read about it, do refer to the following news below as taken from AsiaOne:
2. 14th December:In Connecticut, United States, a gunman shot 28 dead including 20 school children
Twenty schoolchildren were slaughtered by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban elementary school in Connecticut on Friday, killing at least 27 people including himself in the one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
The 20-year-old gunman, who law enforcement sources identified as Adam Lanza, opened fire on a classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which serves children from ages 5 to 10. Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being take to a hospital. Another adult was found dead at a related crime scene in Newtown, bringing the toll to 28, state police Lieutenant Paul Vance said.
As reports of the shooting spread, panicked parents rushed to the school searching for their children as students covered in blood were being carried out of the building.
President Barack Obama, wiping away tears and pausing to collect his emotions in an address to the nation, mourned the “beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old” who were killed. “Our hearts are broken today, for the parents, and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children and for the families of the adults who were lost,” Obama said, his voice cracking. “Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain,” said Obama, who has two young daughters.
High school loner to cold-blooded executioner: How ‘genius’ honor student Adam Lanza became masked killer
The shooter, Adam Lanza, 20, is confirmed dead. Peers remember him as a quiet and extremely intelligent student who kept to himself and carried black briefcase to class. Brother Ryan, 24, an accountant at Ernst and Young, said Adam had personality disorder. He first killed his mother at home they shared in Newtown, then stole her guns and the carried out massacre. He used two semi-automatic pistols, a Glock and Sig Sauer, and reportedly wiped out an entire classroom of young children, then shot several in a second class before taking his own life.
Why did he do such a cruel thing?What caused him to act this way?
And so what that he died really? HIS death is mere pittance compared to the lives of the other INNOCENT 27 or so including the 20 school children.
Other than that, I have to honor several of the adults who gave their lives to protect the children as well as the surviving teachers who also contributed to the other children’s safety during the incident.
Authorities have identified principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, and 27-year-old Victoria Soto, a young first grade teacher, as three of the eight adults found dead at the school on Friday.
Dawn Hochsprung (Principle) & Mary Sherlach (School Psychologist) left a meeting to confront the gunman
When Lanza began started firing at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in suburban Newtown, Connecticut, some teachers dived under tables – but the Mrs Hochsprung and Mrs Sherlach never hesitated, according to reports. They ran into the hallway to confront the danger – and were murdered execution-style as a result.
Victoria Soto who sacrificied herself to save her students
It has been reported that Miss Soto sacrificed herself to save her students – throwing her body in front of the young children. Miss Soto’s cousin, Jim Wiltsie, said: “She put herself between the gunman and the children and that’s when she was tragically shot and killed,’ Mr Wiltsie said. “I’m just proud that Vicki had the instincts to protect her kids from harm. It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved, protecting the children and in our eyes she’s a hero,’ he added.
Another tale of heroism came from an eight-year-old student who said a teacher pulled him from the hallway as bullets rang out. “I saw some of the bullets going down the hall that I was right next to and then a teacher pulled me into her classroom. It sounded like someone was kicking a door,’ he said of the piercing sound of the gunfire.
Another teacher, Miss Clements said that when she began hearing loud banging noises, she poked her head out of her classroom but once she saw the school’s custodian running down the hall. “I realized that those were indeed shots,’ she said. There were two students loitering in the hallway and Clements and other teachers ushered them into her classroom for safety. The teacher waited until she heard the sound of a fire engine, hopeful that hope was soon coming but even once she heard loud footsteps in the hallway. The police identified themselves but Mrs Clement was hesitant at first to open the door. Finally she felt confident that they were legitimate and she let the officers in. The police escorted the children, some who were quiet and some crying, out of the school. Fortunately, all of her students escaped unharmed and none had to pass by any causalities.
Kaitlin Roig, another teacher who survived the attack, has also explained how she kept her class safe by ushering them into a bathroom when she heard shots being fired.
I think now, the most important thing is to look at the existing U.S gun laws and work on that so that a horrific incident like this will be prevented in the future where innocent lives will not be lost.
Doesn’t the previous Colorado’s shoot out mean anything as well?
Has all the deaths caused by guns over the years mean something?
Choking up and wiping away tears, President Barack Obama said on Friday that “our hearts are broken” for the victims of a deadly shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school and called for “meaningful action” to curb gun violence.
Obama, who has responded to previous shooting massacres by citing the need for a national conversation about gun violence, again stopped short of calling for tougher gun-control laws, considered politically risky in a country known for its flourishing gun culture.
“And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics,” he said, in an apparent reference to the influence of the National Rifle Association, a powerful pro-gun lobby, in Congress.
Obama avoided making direct calls for gun control during his bitterly fought campaign for a second term, which he secured in the November 6 election.
Well, let us hope that something will be done about the gun laws.
I just want to end off this blog post by expressing my deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to the families, relatives and the friends of those who have lost their lives – the children and the 3 adults, Dawn Hochsprung, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto on that very day. Also, for the parents of the 20 school children – to have their child lost due to this incident is extremely heartbreaking. They had a whole life ahead of them and just like that, their lives were robbed.
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