Five years after the mass shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas, survivors continue to carry that day’s trauma. The brutality of injuries that worshipers suffered was magnified by the shooter’s chosen weapon — an AR-15 gun.
One of the relatives, his mother-in-law, Michelle Shields, was not at church that day, but her mother, Lou White, was. She was killed.The past is so precious to Holcombe that he has frozen time.Crystal’s crumpled papers and empty Dr Pepper cans still sits on one side of his bed. He’s kept a foam Polar Pop cup, lid and straw intact; it was the last drink she sipped on. The registry for the baby they never had is“One of the most important things we have is time,” he said on a recent afternoon.
He can’t dwell for too long. He has an energetic, wild-haired middle-schooler to feed and entertain and put to bed every night. Evelyn pulls him into the present in the moments when he smells Crystal’s purple robe for too long, willing her scent to return to the fabric. “Woo hoo!” she said as he did. Soon, Philip would come home from work and be her next target for attention.“I regret not spending more time with the rest of my family when they were here. That’s something I can never get back.”Holcombe smells his late wife's robe, willing her scent to return to the fabric. Framed photos of his deceased children sit on his shelves.
On the day of the shooting, Evelyn was found underneath her mother. She was covered in so much blood and body matter that a rescuer initially thought she might be dead. Evelyn takes home-schooling classes online, which allows the Holcombe family to travel. In the past year, they have gone to Redwood National and State Parks, Mount Rushmore and Wyoming’s Devils Tower National Monument.
When he returned home from the hospital, Colbath could no longer do simple tasks independently. He had to submit to being cared for and asking for help, his family and health-care workers tasked with changing the bandages covering gruesome wounds on his buttocks and back.
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