The heroic actions of those involved in the shootings at Newtown. A different kind of thread

I think with all the posts based on the negative we should post something talking about the heroes and the victims. I hope the mods don't move this because I honestly want as many people as possible on here to take a breather, see these were real people with lives and loved ones. And the gen board will reach the most people

Feel free to add anything you have found out in terms of the heroic actions of the victims of this attack. Some of these are quotes taken from news sources.

I'll start it with Victoria Soto. She hid her first graders in the cabinets and closets after hearing the gunfire. When the shooter came to her classroom, she told him that her students were in the gym. Investigators informed relatives that she was killed while shielding her first-graders from danger. She reportedly hid some students in a bathroom or closet, ensuring they were safe, a cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News. He then gunned her down and moved on. She saved the lives of all of her students.



One teacher (havent been able to find her name out) reportedly helped two children dodge bullets by pulling them into a classroom, and The Wall Street Journal has just revealed a remarkable story from Sandy Hook therapist Diane Day, who watched as the school psychologist and Principal Dawn Hochsprung sprung out of a meeting to respond to gunshots. From WSJ:

Without a lock on the door, the school’s lead teacher pressed her body against the door to hold it shut, Ms. Day said. That teacher was shot through the door in the leg and arm.

“She was our hero,” Ms. Day said.




Dawn Hochsprung, principal and another hero:

On Saturday, officials in Newtown, Conn., lauded the heroism of Hochsprung, a relatively new principal, noting she had lunged toward the shooter in an attempt to overtake him before being fatally shot. A fourth-grade teacher at the school credits Hochsprung with flipping on the intercom switch, which broadcast “screaming and crying,” through the school, in order to warn teachers. As principal of 700 students, Hochsprung had recently instituted new security measures for the school, including visual recognition for entering. Tragically, her best attempts to make the building safe weren’t enough to keep out Adam Lanza, the disturbed 20-year-old who forcibly entered the school around 9:30 that morning.

Maryrose Kristopik, music teacher:

The hero music teacher who saved 20 children from being shot dead by the Newtown killer has revealed that she kept them quiet by saying prayers and telling them: ‘I love you’. Maryrose Kristopik said she barricaded herself in to the closet with the nine and 10-year-olds while gunman Adam Lanza, 20, reportedly battered on the door screaming: ‘Let me in! Let me in!’

Mrs Kristopik said: ‘I did take the children into the closet and talked with them to keep them quiet. I told them that I loved them. I said there was a bad person in the school. I didn't want to tell them anything past that.'

It had previously been reported that there were 15 children in her care, but Mrs Kristopik told MailOnline there were 20 kids in the closet and there wasn’t enough space for them.

One door had several instruments, including big xylophones, blocking it, she said.

Mrs Kristopik said she was standing in front of the other door and holding the handle to keep the children out of harm's way.

'I was just trying to be as strong as possible,' she said. 'I was thinking about the children. I told them that we had to keep quiet and we were hiding and nobody knew we were there.'

‘Of course I was afraid too,' she said. 'I wanted them to be quiet, I thought it was a pretty secure out of the way place.'

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
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Kaitlin Roig,

As CBS 2’s Rob Morrison reported, one of those teachers was Kaitlin Roig, who brought her first grade class into a bathroom and pulled a bookcase in front of the door to protect the children. Roig told her children “the bad guys weren’t going to get them, and the good guys were on their way.” She also told the children she loved them, because she thought those might be the last words they would ever hear.

Roig’s class was rescued and brought to safety

Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist who ran and lunged at the gunman with the school principal:

Hochsprung and Sherlach ran out of the room, toward the shots. “They didn’t think twice about confronting or seeing what was going on,” Day said. Hochsprung lunged at the gunman when she confronted him, officials say. She was killed. Sherlach is also believed to have been killed.

I'll add more as I find more... Feel free to help.

Victoria Soto

Dawn Hochsprung

Maryrose Kristopik

Kaitlin Roig

Mary Sherlach

Im tearing up while I do this but the actions of these heroes need to be known by as many people as possible. Heroes, There's no other word I can come up with

First article I read brought me to tears. After seeing hundreds pop up though, most of them being politicized, I lost all interest in the story. Until a thorough piece comes out in a few months after a chance for real journalists to look over the story properly, my interest shall wane...

Now, just imagine if the Principal or some of those teachers had been armed. How many lives might have been saved that day? We will never know.

Originally posted by DarthMuerte
Now, just imagine if the Principal or some of those teachers had been armed. How many lives might have been saved that day? We will never know.

This is absolutely not the place for that.


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE EVERYONE, no anti or pro gun talk.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, only hero talk.

Just let the victims rest in peace and stop misusing the Term HERO!

Originally posted by Hellas
Just let the victims rest in peace and stop misusing the Term HERO!

How have I once misused the term hero?

Kaitlin Roig



I see you already edited your post and added her.

This was a heart wrenching interview.

She recounts how she took 15 students and barricaded themselves inside a bathroom.

reply to post by MagicWand67


I had her up there, but that video is a great add. Thank you!

Well I think Im going to sign off for a while and listen to ATS live. Maybe not, but I do find it a little sad that 20 or so pro gun or anti gun threads get more traction than one remembering the heroes. These people saved lives and should be remembered.

will post what I posted in a similar thread made earlier.

"Heroes in my book for sure.

Can't help but shed tears for those innocent little kids, but feel pride for those heroes who died trying to protect them.

And for those heroes who survived, I hope that they realize that they did their best and don't second guess themselves over what else they could have done differently.

My prayers for all involved."

reply to post by bknapple32


They helped save those children's lives, but the teacher hiding the children in the closet for example was only doing what anyone would do to try and survive. Things like this are not rare, they happen every day.

reply to post by bknapple32


I agree with you that the heroes deserve praise and recognition for their bravery.

Unfortunately, honoring them also ties into the grief that people feel about it.

Which is sometimes a hard thing for people to deal with or express.

Maybe when things calm down and more details come out.

People will be able to reflect and voice their respect.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one hat got 'hit' when I was reading this article. I think it somehow made the whole thing more real in my eyes. Humanized the event more. Guarantee if I read something about one of the kids I'm going to actually lose it.

And I agree with the OP, let's keep the gun crap out of this thread. There are threads for that discussion. Let's have this one be a better place.

I agree its hard to read this. But they deserve it.

Teachers are amazing people. They dedicate their lives, and even risk their lives, for the children. They are verbally blasted on a regular basis but they just keep going back for more. They are beaten down by society over and over again, they are blamed for every problem that arises, they are demonized by the ignorant and the evil, but they don't give up. They get right back in there and make differences in the lives of children everywhere.

Sometimes they are the only positive influence in a child's life, sometimes they are the one that makes a difference in what would otherwise be a tragedy. Then people have the audacity to blame them when any little thing goes wrong. They expect teachers to be superheroes, to have power over anything and everything and to make everything go right for them for the rest of their lives.

Not enough respect and admiration is given to this group of people. They should be honored above all others just like the other unsung heroes in our society. Instead of honoring them, people blame them, it really makes me sick

So no one wants to talk about the heroes.

reply to post by bknapple32


thank you bknapple for this thread.. I haven't been able to watch the news lately because i've been working 12 hour shifts .. sometimes 16 the last few days. I can't help but cry hearing these stories of those who helped get the children out of harms way and the ones who tried but didn't have enough time to do so...

as you know my friend these things are unspeakable crimes against humanity that we feared well over a week ago.. i pray this is the only horrendous thing within the next week.

Originally posted by gnosticagnostic
reply to post by bknapple32

 

thank you bknapple for this thread.. I haven't been able to watch the news lately because i've been working 12 hour shifts .. sometimes 16 the last few days. I can't help but cry hearing these stories of those who helped get the children out of harms way and the ones who tried but didn't have enough time to do so...

as you know my friend these things are unspeakable crimes against humanity that we feared well over a week ago.. i pray this is the only horrendous thing within the next week.

One can only hope... I fear for ats however as well. Threads with conspiracies that the shooting never happened or that obama planned it to get our guns get more traction and input than a thread that just wants to talk about the heroes that saved children's lives.