Author Spotlight
Greyson Imm
Members of the East community continue to suffer from trauma and intense fear of gun violence after the Feb. 14 Super Bowl parade shooting and are calling for legislative change.
The shooting was a result of a verbal conflict between parade attendees and caused one death and 21 injuries, according to the Associated Press. Though this was the amount of direct casualties, East students and community members report being affected by the violence emotionally and psychologically.
Senior Claire Schudy was one of these students. Ever since the day of the shooting, she’s dealt with an intense fear that’s common among witnesses of traumatic events. For Schudy, it’s mostly manifested itself in the form of persistent violent dreams laden with imagery of guns and war.
Additionally, Schudy says she still doesn’t feel the same safety in large crowds like she once did. As someone who is used to regularly taking precautions like checking exits in large public spaces in case of a shooting event, actually having to use these precautions when shots are fired mere yards from you completely changes things, she said.
Between a rumored school shooting threat last December and witnessing a mass shooting just weeks ago, gun violence is one of her biggest concerns.
“You don’t think it’s gonna happen to you and so that slight chance of actually being near gunshots and an automatic rifle in a public place is just really unsettling,” Schudy said. “But the fact that two of these things have sort of happened in the past four months is very eye-opening and shows that [gun violence] is actually a real problem [in our community].”
She’s not alone in this sentiment.
Out of a poll of 276 East community members who attended the parade, 58% said they feel unsafe in large public gatherings as a result of the shooting and 62% said they are worried about the potential of a school shooting at East. Overall, students report feeling much more unsafe as a result, and this fear can have intense repercussions as well.
Children and teenagers who lived within blocks of a shooting were found to be more likely to visit the ER for mental health reasons following the incident with symptoms like panic attacks and suicidal ideation, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatric Health Journal. The same study reports that living near shooting incidents increased dropout rates, depression and learning difficulties while hurting academic performance.
Even among other members of the East community, the impact of trauma was apparent. Local emergency doctor and East parent Adam Algren was working at University Health hospital just half a mile from Union Station when the shooting occurred. Once several ambulances brought more than a dozen shooting victims into the hospital for treatment, staff members were forced to enact the mass casualty protocol for the first time in Algren’s 25-year career at University Health.
“As our society has evolved over the last decade or two, unfortunately across the country we certainly have seen more of these incidents, and unfortunately we’ve had to understand that it could happen in our community and have to think about how we would respond to an event like that,” Algren said. “So it is a rather unfortunate thing that is a part of our society nowadays, but we are prepared to manage if needed.”
While he deals primarily with physical injuries, Algren notes the psychological severity of fear-related trauma after witnessing an event like this.
Though junior Brynn Delaney initially felt this sense of fear when she was running from the shots, it was replaced with sadness in the following days and weeks as she heard of the children injured in the shooting. Watching the news and seeing several children reported injured, she thought of the little boy she hid under a semi truck with until his mom found him.
Though she wasn’t severely psychologically impacted by the event, the sadness for the victims still persists.
“When we came out from under the semi truck we saw all the moms and dads standing up, screaming for their kids and on the phone just crying,” Delaney said. “It’s still weird to see that these two guys impacted the entire city of people.”
Sophomore Hank Hunter had a similar experience, viscerally remembering the crying children and adults he had to help get over the metal barricade at the front of the rally.
He echoes Claire’s shock that an event like this happened in his home city, on a day of celebration for his hometown football team. Though he doesn’t have a hard time in public spaces, going back down to Union Station to visit Science City with his family felt “off” and “different,” as it brought back the memories of panic and fear the day of the shooting.
“When bad things are brought up I feel like a lot of people make the assumption ‘That’s not gonna happen to me,’” Hunter said. “But the shooting did happen, and I was there for it. It’s just pretty shocking to know that these things could escalate to the point where someone would feel the need to bring a gun to this celebration where people are trying to have fun.”
To offer support to students after the shooting, Student Resource Officer Tony Woollen says he’s been more conscious about being there for students in need and keeping his office available for the few students who wanted to talk to him after it happened.
“We’re obviously more vigilant and [Officer] Jeremy [Shull] and I are more visible after [the shooting] just to give people some comfort,” Woolen said.
However, he said no policy or procedure change resulted from the shooting, as the SROs confirm the building is already safe during the day with the only one unlocked entrance.
Grandparents for Gun Safety president and founder Judy Sherry says she’s seen people turning this pervasive sense of community fear into action.
At the monthly Grandparents For Gun Safety Meeting on Feb. 26, Sherry noticed more than 140 people in attendance compared to the usual 60-70. Out of those 140, at least 30 were new members. While Sherry is disappointed for the reason behind the spiked attendance, she’s appreciative that there are more people fighting for change alongside her organization.
“We do not deserve to feel unsafe everywhere we go,” Sherry said. “The whole community will have a new sense of fear after this.”
Though little legislative change has resulted so far since the shooting was so recent, city policy and procedure is undergoing potential changes to accommodate for mass shooting events. For example, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told KMBC that if the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl next year, he’s thinking of moving towards a smaller celebration at Arrowhead Stadium.
It also forced smaller, surrounding cities like Overland Park to evaluate their emergency procedures in case of a similar event.
“This incident and others give our police, fire and emergency management staff opportunities to train and carefully consider how to keep the community safe during major events,” Overland Park City Communications Manager Meg Ralph said. “Overland Park is constantly evaluating security risks as part of the community event planning and emergency management process and will continue to do so for upcoming events.”
While the future is uncertain for upcoming events, Sherry said the fear and post-traumatic stress caused by gun violence alters a community and the individuals in it forever. The sense of fear she and the students reported experiencing continues to weigh on Kansas City, according to her and Algren.
Algren encourages individuals to check in on one another in times like this after large casualties, and seek professional help if mental health problems become unmanageable.
“It’s been challenging for all those involved,” Algren said. “As healthcare providers, and as a community, although we’re trained to help people, that type of scenario is something we’re not used to dealing with ourselves. It’s been difficult and has weighed heavily on people, so I think that it’s important to understand that it’s going to take some time to heal from something like that.”
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