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A SANDY Hook school shooting survivor has renewed his fight to end gun violence after three people died in a hauntingly similar massacre.
On Monday, a student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, stormed the campus and shot eight people before turning the gun on themself, cops say.
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“It’s just another example of a shooting which we should have dealt with,” former Sandy Hook Elementary School student Matt Holden, 18, exclusively told The U.S. Sun.
“You can never fill the void that a school shooting causes.”
Officers were at the scene just before 11 am, and the shooter was dead by the time they arrived, according to the Madison Police Department.
First responders rushed to help the eight victims, whose injuries ranged from minor to life-threatening.
One of those killed was dead by the time cops arrived, and the other was declared dead soon after.
One person who was fatally shot was a student, and the other was a teacher. Everyone else that was hurt was a student.
A 9mm pistol was found at the scene, but details about how the weapon got inside the school haven’t been released.
Cops revealed that the shooter was a teenage student but wouldn’t give any details about their identity.
“Why did this happen? What do we know? What was the motivation? I do not know,” Chief Shon Barnes said at a press conference.
Hours after the shooting, the religious school, which has about 335 students, solemnly asked for prayers.
“We will share information as we are able,” the school said in a statement.
“Please pray for our Challenger Family.”
Holden, who was in the first grade when deranged shooter Adam Lanza stormed Sandy Hook, shared his condolences for the victims in a heartbreaking statement.
“I can’t help but be reminded again of myself and the students at Sandy Hook,” he said.
“How we were so young when it happened and how it’s sat with us for the rest of our lives.
“Just like it is going to sit with these students now for the rest of their lives.”
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SAD MESSAGE
Nothing can bring back the lives lost in a tragic shooting, but Holden hopes the tragedy can bring renewed hope for change.
“We need to change how we react to [shootings],” he said.
“After every major school shooting, people are up in arms for a couple days, and then it simply dies out.
“The news cycle, everyone forgets.”
Holden was reminded of the September 4 Apalachee High School shooting, which ended with four being killed and nine more injured.
He believes that conversations surrounding gun violence ended far too abruptly, and now, he fears it will happen again.
“What we have to remember is that this isn’t an isolated incident,” Holden said.
“There are hundreds of people killed by guns weekly in America. We just don’t hear about it on the news all the time.”
Abundant Life Christian School shooting timeline
On December 16, a student at Abundant Life Christian School opened fire on the private K-12 school in Madison, Wisconsin. Below is a timeline of the events that unfolded:
10:57 am – Someone in the school calls 911 to report an active shooter
11:20 am – Public safety alert is sent out to nearby phones
11:38 pm – Madison Police Department confirms multiple people are injured
12:38 pm – Abundant Life Christian School requests prayers on Facebook
12:15 pm – Cops hold a press conference and confirm three people are dead, including the shooter, and at least seven others injured
2:30 pm – At a second press conference, cops confirm the shooter was a teen who attended the school
REMEMBERING SANDY HOOK
On December 14, 2012, Lanza, 20, murdered his mom and stole her AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle before heading to the Connecticut school.
He arrived at around 9:30 am after the front doors were locked but sprayed bullets at a window and burst inside.
Five minutes later, he broke into two first-grade classrooms, where he heartlessly murdered little six and seven-year-old children and their teachers.
By the end of the sick spree, the gunman had killed 20 students and six adult teachers and faculty members.
Brave Holden was down the hall throughout the entire attack. He previously told The U.S. Sun that his mom, who was on her way to the school that morning, could have died if she came just minutes earlier.
Now still haunted by flashbacks to that dark day, Holden has vowed to spend his life advocating for political change.
“The tragedy, it fades, but it doesn’t go away,” he previously told The U.S. Sun.
“My friends, those teachers, everyone who was in that building that day should still be with us.”
What to know about Abundant Life Christian School shooting
Three are dead after a shooting broke out at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on December 16.
The K-12 Christian school has at least 390 students, according to the institution’s website.
The school serves about 200 families from 56 different churches on its 28-acre campus.
The shooting broke out on Monday morning, just days before the student body’s last day ahead of Christmas break on Friday.
Police were called to the campus just before 11 am CST.
Two victims were killed and six more were injured in the shooting.
The shooter, a juvenile who cops said was a student, also died in the shooting.
POWERFUL MESSAGE
Holden believes that tragedy can bring out the best in people and has hopes that Madison will unite in the aftermath.
“I’m sure the community will come together, just as we did in Newtown, after this,” he said.
“I’m sure they will find solace in each other.”
He wants survivors to know they are now a part of the strong community of gun violence survivors and said Sandy Hook is happy to soften the devastating blow.
“They’re a part of a new community now, which is the community of gun violence survivors,” he said.
“And that community is one that will always support each other.
“There’s always someone who can be there to support you, and we should remember that.”
The FBI has been called in to assist with the shooting investigation.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational school where affluent students pay between $8,000 and $10,000 in tuition annually.
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