Hauntingly familiar Wisconsin school shooting reminds Sandy Hook survivor of 12-year-old tragedy: ‘Another example of…’

It’s been twelve years since the Sandy Hook school shooting shook the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Yet the US is still grappling with the ever-rising number of tragedies based out of such locations, forever scarring people with the memories of the deadly happenings.

Earlier today, officials confirmed that a 15-year-old female suspect was behind the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, a campus for K-12 grade in Madison, Wisconsin. The life-upending incident bore the deaths of three people, including the teen suspect who opened fire on Monday.

Also read | Luigi Mangione, is that you? Doppelganger skater guy goes viral just in time for double documentary announcements

Jarring similarities between Sandy Hook and Abundant Life Christian school shooting reopen old wounds

While authorities are still working their way to figure out the schoolgirl’s motive, Sandy Hook Elementary School student Matt Holden was shaken by the haunting similarities of the two tragedies taking place over a decade apart. Arguing why curbing gun violence was needed more than ever, the 18-year-old survivor of the 2012 shooting called the latest Wisconsin tragedy “just another example of a shooting which we should have dealt with.”

“You can never fill the void that a school shooting causes,” Holden told The US Sun. The Sandy Hook trauma bearer was in the first grade when shooter Adama Lanza unleashed horror at the school. Drawing parallels between the 2012 Newtown and the 2024 Wisconsin shootings, Holden couldn’t “help but be reminded again of myself and the students at Sandy Hook.”

Sharing condolences for the victims, he added, “How we were so young when it happened and how it’s sat with us for the rest of our lives.” Speaking for the victims of the Abundant Life Christian School tragedy, he remarked, “Just like it is going to sit with these students now for the rest of their lives.”

Sandy Hook survivor's tragic message after the Wisconsin tragedy

After all these years, Holden is still holding out hope that these life-shattering moments will usher in a wave of change. “We need to change how we react to [shootings,” he went on. “After every major school shooting, people are up in arms for a couple days, and then it simply dies out.”

Also read | Hannah Kobayashi returns to US but isn't greeted by family days after sister said ‘she does not wish to return to us’

Fearing that the discussion around gun violence may die down abruptly like it did the last time, he emphasised how “this isn’t an isolated incident.”

“There are hundreds of people killed by guns weekly in America. We just don't hear about it on the news all the time.”

Two school tragedies twelve years apart: Has anything changed?

The December 14, 2012, shooting witnessed 20-year-old Lanza killing his mother and stealing an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, the weapon used to bring down the Connecticut school. The shooting spree ended with the deaths of 20 students and six teachers and faculty members. On the other hand, the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, opened fire at her own Christian school on Monday. She killed a teacher and a student before aiming the handgun at herself. Having died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the teen suspect also wounded six others, some of whom are now battling life-threatening injuries in critical condition.