Michigan State student says she also survived the Sandy Hook shooting in viral video

“I am 21 years old and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through.” These haunting words are spoken in a TikTok video that is going viral because of the devastating story from one Sandy Hook survivor who also survived Monday night’s Michigan State University shooting (MSU).

Jackie Matthews says she lives directly across the street from one of the buildings where shots were fired and people died on February 13, 2023. The MSU senior took to social media and posted a heartbreaking video at 1am on Tuesday.

Matthews describes how she sheltered in place as last night’s tragic events unfolded. A similar story to what took place during the devastating shooting on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary.

“10 years and two months ago I survived the Sandy Hook shooting,” she says. “I was hunched in the corner with my classmates for so long that I actually got a PTSD fracture.”

20 children and 6 adults died on that horrific day in New Town, Connecticut. Matthews survived but now lives with an injury that flares up during stressful situations.

Now, more than a decade later, she was forced to experience another similarly tragic situation. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan State University shooting gunman shot and killed 3 MSU students and injured 5 others on Monday night.

“We can no longer provide just love and prayers. It needs to be legislation, it needs to be action. It’s not OK,” she says. “We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent,” she says.

It is only February and we’ve already had 6 school shootings this year. Just a few weeks ago, a first-grade teacher was shot by a 6-year-old who brought a gun to school.

According to an analysis done by the Washington Post, the number of children exposed to gun violence at school has significantly increased. In 2018 it was, 187,000 but now we’re at 338,000. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death in for kids and teens. The Washington Post calls it a, “singularly American epidemic.”

“I’ll forever be Sandy Hook Strong; I’ll forever be Spartan Strong,” Matthews ends.