A mother who survived a school shooting over 20 years ago found herself in an unimaginable situation, guiding her son through a similarly terrifying event when a shooter entered an elementary school in Oregon on Thursday, according to reports.
Michelle, who preferred to keep her last name private, sent a series of distressing texts to her son, assuring him and his brother that they would be safe amid the chaos, while repeatedly expressing her love: “I love you so much.”
“I was just in shock. I was, like, how can this happen? How is it possible for lightning to strike twice?” she relayed to CNN.
“How can I go through this, and then my children?” she pondered.
Her fifth-grader called her at 1 p.m. Thursday, just one minute after police were alerted that a teenage gunman, Griffin J. John II, had opened fire near Silver Rail Elementary School.
“Mom, there’s a shooter,” he told her, a message that he confirmed in a text shortly after, where he first tried to type “shroterr” before correcting it to “shooter at school.”
“Baby I love you, don’t call anyone; please be as quiet as possible,” Michelle replied, feeling frantic yet determined.
“If you can text me safely, that’s okay, just don’t make any calls. The police are going to help you. I love you so much. Do you know what’s happening?” she asked, trying to maintain calm.
An hour later, she checked in with him again, asking questions and continuing to reassure him: “I love you so much.”
“Everything is going to be okay. This happened to me too, and I am okay,” she told her son—a personal history she had never shared with her children until that moment, as she told CNN.
“I love you so much. It’s going to be okay,” she wrote again, attempting to calm his fears.
“They will load you on the bus, it might be slow, but we will get to you, I promise.”
Michelle was just a freshman at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, California, when another student, Jason Anthony Hoffman, opened fire in a 2001 incident, injuring three students and two teachers but thankfully resulting in no fatalities.
She explained that she has lived with the repercussions of that trauma—suffering from panic attacks and developing a habit of always scanning for exits in public places.
Even when dropping her sons off for school, she couldn’t shake the anxious feeling in her stomach, thinking, “I hope I see him again,” she shared with tearful honesty, attributing it to her past experiences.
While Michelle’s sons survived the shooting on Thursday, four others did not, including three students—a 5-year-old named Rhoam Summer, along with an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old—and a teacher, 25-year-old Megan Lambert.
A brave teacher managed to subdue the 16-year-old gunman during his attack until a father, Kaylub Giamanco, entered the classroom and fatally shot him.
Authorities are still investigating John’s motives for the shooting, but sources suggest he took significant steps to carry out the attack. The weapon he used was legally acquired by his mother shortly before his birthday in August.
