How responders, victims are doing 1 year after Abundant Life Christian School shooting : NPR
Some of the first responders and medical personnel who helped in the Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Madison, Wis., are still dealing with difficult feelings a year later.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
School shootings are, of course, devastating to the children, parents, and teachers involved. They also profoundly affect first responders and medical teams. A year after a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin left three people dead, these workers are still grappling with complicated feelings, as Wisconsin Public Radio’s Sarah Lehr reports.
SARAH LEHR, BYLINE: When the calls came in late that December morning, police wondered if it was a false alarm. This was not the case. Several people were shot at a private school in Madison. Jimmy Imoehl is a Madison police lieutenant. He was working that day.
JIMMY IMOEHL: Everyone dropped what they were doing to rush to this school. Lunches were half-eaten, reports half-typed.
LEHR: A 15-year-old student opened fire in a co-ed study hall, killing 14-year-old Rubi Vergara and 42-year-old teacher Erin West. The shooter committed suicide. Her father now faces criminal charges after prosecutors say he gave her access to two handguns she brought to school that day. A trial date has not yet been set. This is one of several cases across the country in which parents have been charged after their children committed school shootings.
Twelve months ago, Madison paramedic Joe Parrillo arrived at Abundant Life School and knew he had to treat the surviving victim who was in the worst condition. It was Samy Garduno-Martinez. He was 17 at the time.
JOE PARRILLO: My exact words were: he’s my man; we take it. And it still rings true today. Samy is my guy.
LEHR: Samy was rushed to American Family Children’s Hospital, where he immediately underwent surgery on his brain and abdomen. Dr. Adam Brinkman performed one of these surgeries. He remembers walking into the operating room after learning there had been a school shooting.
ADAM BRINKMAN: My stomach hurt. I felt sad. I felt angry. I felt in shock.
LEHR: For Brinkman, December 16 will always be a dark day. He plans to go for a run, so he has time to think.
BRINKMAN: There are still these moments, these seconds in time, that are ingrained in my mind. And I have to think about it and face it. I can’t delete them.
LEHR: Another Abundant Life student, River Clardy, then 14, was also seriously injured. After several surgeries, River was released from the hospital last January. Dr. Megan Gussick is the medical director of the Madison Fire Department. She made sure the first responders who treated River were there for her release.
MEGAN GUSSICK: There are images in their brains that they can never erase, and one of those images is River and Samy literally dying in front of them.
LEHR: Samy’s injuries were even more serious than River’s. He was only released from the hospital last October. Parrillo was one of the paramedics who were the first to load Samy into an ambulance. He was there for Samy’s release.
PARRILLO: I said, hey, man, I brought you here 295 days ago, and I’m going to get you out.
LEHR: Hospital staff blew bubbles and waved banners as Parrillo wheeled Samy out. After suffering brain damage, Samy is now in a rehabilitation center to relearn tasks like walking and talking. Parrillo can’t forget what he saw inside the school that day, but he also has new images to think about, like Samy’s smile and the bubbles floating in the air when he left the hospital.
For NPR News, I’m Sarah Lehr in Madison.
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