Mom who survived school shooting 25 years ago shares heartbreaking texts from son during recent Oregon attack
A mother has revealed her text exchanges with her son who was in the school that was subjected to a mass shooting on Thursday – a harrowing situation that's all to familiar to her.
In 2001, there was a shooting at Santana High School in Santee, California. Two students were killed and over a dozen others were injured in the attack, which was carried out by 15-year-old Charles Andrew Williams.
Michelle, who did not share her surname, was at the school at the time of the shooting 25 years ago. Now her son, a student at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, has unfortunately experienced the same thing.
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Speaking to CNN after Thursday's travesty, she recounted the moment she saw that her son was calling her. Michelle was in Olive Garden at the time, and saw her Apple Watch flash up that she was receiving a call from her child, who is in the fifth-grade.
"Mom, there’s a shooter," he told her. Michelle told him she loved him and urged him to stay quiet. Then she hung up to call 911.
With her own experiences in mind, Michelle told the news outlet: "I was like, how can this happen? How can lightning strike twice?"
Michelle proceeded to text her son after he told her about the school shooter. She wrote: "Baby I love you don't call anyone please be quiet as possible."
"If you can safely, text me, that's OK just don't make any calls," she continued to say in a follow up message. "The police are coming to help you. I love you so much. Do you know anything that's going on?"
The messages were sent at 1:01pm, two minutes after police reportedly received the first 911 about somebody seeing a man approach the elementary school, throw his long gun over the fence, and climb over after it.
Michelle sent more messages to her son at 2:24pm asking if he'd seen someone, whose name has been redacted from the screenshot provided to CNN.
"Yes, I'm not trying to lie. Yes," her son replied in two separate texts.
Police have identified Thursday's attacker as 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, a former student at the school, and said all of the victims were shot in the same classroom.
The mother of the teenager identified as the alleged gunman said her son was a 'good boy' as she tearfully apologized to victims and their families.
Shauntai Nickerson, the mother of Griffin J. John II, told reporters outside her apartment near the school that if she could have done something to prevent the shooting, she would have.
"I miss my boy," Nickerson said, sobbing and crying, according to The New York Times and CNN. She added: "I’m so sorry, I wish I could have done something. I’m sorry for their loss."
If you or someone you know has been affected by gun violence, please find more information and support via Survivors Empowered on their website.
Niamh Shackleton