The shooting at Brown University that left two students dead has once again dredged up memories for survivors of gun violence in Connecticut.
Nelba Marquéz-Greene’s daughter Ana Grace was 6 when she was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Marquéz-Greene said the public outpouring of grief for the victims after a mass shooting was expected and understandable. But after the news cycle fades, survivors — like her son — shouldn’t be forgotten.
During a recent appearance on Connecticut Public’s “Where We Live,” she offered three ways to support survivors of gun violence.
‘Building relationships’
“I bet if you live in Connecticut, within a 10 mile radius from you, [someone] if not your own family, has been impacted by gun violence, whether it's domestic violence, suicide, harm … and it doesn't always have to be a mass shooting,” she said. “I actually discourage that, because we have a disproportionate amount of attention to mass shooting victims, and not enough to people who might live in your own neighborhood.”
Strengthening the ecosystem
Hartford groups including Mothers United Against Violence, Hartford Communities That Care, Compass Youth Collaborative, meet with impacted families. “They're all a part of that ecosystem,” Marquéz-Greene said. “So we need to strengthen the ecosystem.”
Transparency regarding college safety resources
People on college campuses are having conversations about personal safety and the safety of their students, and they often are unaware of resources available to them to keep themselves and others safe, Marquéz-Greene said.
“My husband's a faculty at West Conn [Jimmy Greene, jazz saxophonist and professor of music at Western Connecticut State University]. I work at Yale. My son's at a local university,” Marquéz-Greene said. “We think about these things every day, and we need leadership. We need direction, transparency and clarity from our leaders to tell us what's available.”
Lockdown drills also play a role
Several Brown University students credited school lockdown drills in informing them what to do at that moment.
A Connecticut nonprofit, CT Against Gun Violence (CAGV), is advocating for legislation to make school lockdown drills trauma informed.
“We're not asking to get rid of drills because we know that this is a reality, but we think that it's important for lawmakers to take into account that people are coming into school, already traumatized from other events in their life,” said Malini Parikh, Youth Council head at CAGV, and a student at Hopkins School in New Haven.
The bill was voted out of Connecticut’s education committee this past legislative season, and passed out of the House with bipartisan support.
“The last day of the session, we learned that Senate Republicans were not going to support the bill,” said Stacey Mayer, CAGV’s director of advocacy, policy and outreach. “We will be advocating and pushing for it to move through again this session when it starts in February.”
Mayer said gun drills were adding to the anxiety that young people are experiencing today. Across the country, 125 people die from a gun injury, and more than 200 people are shot and wounded each day, according to the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.
While Connecticut’s death rate from firearms is low compared to the rest of the U.S., federal data shows hundreds of firearm-related deaths still occur in the state each year.
Treating the victim and the family
Meanwhile across Connecticut, hospital violence intervention specialists (HVIPs) are working with victims of gun violence and their families to reduce reinjury rates.
“My youngest child who's been a victim of gun violence [was aged] 6, and he was just going into the house for dinner,” said Renee Beavers, an HVIP at Connecticut Children’s in Hartford. “He was being called in for dinner, and unfortunately in the neighborhood there was gunshots, and he became a victim. Luckily he survived.”
Beavers said after children leave the hospital, they have to go back to the neighborhood that they were shot in. “Very rarely do we have money to relocate every single family, every victim of violence,” she said.
“And so now the place that they loved and enjoyed and that they played with is a trauma scene for them, and how are they going to handle going back? And how are the families going to handle having a child who has significant trauma? You have to parent very different.”
Learn more
Listen to the full episode from “Where We Live: “Amid ongoing gun violence, how are young people handling anxiety?”
Connecticut Public's Catherine Shen contributed to this report.
