Columbine and Parkland. Two high school massacres, two communities changed forever. Two fateful days, two decades apart. Tragic bookends in American history. In all, 30 lives lost: 13 in Colorado in 1999, 17 in Florida in 2018.
Interviews conducted by Brooke Baldwin, CNNChat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.Two high school massacres, two communities changed forever.Two fateful days, two decades apart. Tragic bookends in American history.In all, 30 lives lost: 13 in Colorado in 1999, 17 in Florida in 2018.Hundreds more survived the gunfire. Most escaped the bullets. Still, they carry invisible scars.
They were both seniors when the shots were fired 02:27Coni Sanders wasn't a student at the high school, but she was no less haunted by what happened. Her father, Dave Sanders, was a teacher and coach killed at Columbine. Her father had dedicated his life to coaching track, girls' basketball and softball for 24 years. He had three daughters, and his final words were"tell my girls I loved them.
She had to start fighting in a ring to get past her anger 02:06"Be selfish," says Laura Farber, who directed the documentary"We Are Columbine" for Saturday's two-decade mark. "For me, predictability is what I need in my life, because I was expecting to go to lunch on the 20th, and my whole world changed."Amy says,"we have this beautiful club that, at first, no one wanted to be a part of. But it's become part of my identity. I'm proud of who I am.
See what brought these survivors close to tears 02:09Coni continues,"I almost feel like this 20th anniversary is like handing over the baton like in this really tired way, saying, 'we're sorry that we couldn't stop it. We're sorry that we couldn't do more and yet so grateful for you all.'"The two hug, holding each other tight. As they pull away, Coni fans herself and says,"I'm not done. I'm not done." They embrace a bit longer.
Demitri again wants to know whether it gets better with time. "It does get better," Amy tells him."But it's such a hard question." The pain lessens, she explains, but it never goes away. Zach says it was important to make the trip from Colorado to"tell you guys face-to-face how proud I am of you.""I want you to be more aware of the issues," he says,"so that you don't make the same mistakes I did."The marathon pounds on.
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