21-year-old survivor of Sandy Hook and MSU shootings calls for change

East Lansing, Michigan - In the wake of the tragic shooting at Michigan State University, one student is speaking out about how the epidemic of gun violence in the US has affected her.

The shooting at Michigan State University has renewed desperate calls for actions to curb gun violence in the US.
The shooting at Michigan State University has renewed desperate calls for actions to curb gun violence in the US.  © SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

Renewed calls for gun reform flooded social media after three MSU students were killed and at least five were wounded by a gunman on Monday night.

One survivor of the tragedy has put the alarming frequency of US school shootings into perspective after going viral on TikTok with her story.

"I am 21 years old, and this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through," MSU senior Jackie Matthews said in the viral video.

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More than a decade earlier, Matthews survived the horrific 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and 6 adults dead.

In the video, Matthews revealed that the massacre at Sandy Hook left her with a PTSD fracture in her lower back from being hunched over in the classroom for an extended period. The fracture was worsened during the lockdown for Monday's shooting.

"We can no longer provide just love and prayers. It needs to be legislation, it needs to be action. It's not OK," she said. "We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent."

Tragically, Matthews isn't even the only survivor of the MSU tragedy to have experienced another mass shooting in their lifetime.

"There are no words to ever describe the amount of emotion that I have felt over the past 24 hours, to just know that there are other people in this situation," she told TODAY.

Survivors of Sandy Hook, Oxford, and other shootings also survived MSU tragedy

An MSU student was seen wearing an Oxford Strong sweatshirt after escaping the shooting on Monday.
An MSU student was seen wearing an Oxford Strong sweatshirt after escaping the shooting on Monday.  © Emily Elconin / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

A live stream showing the chaos at MSU amid the shooting caught a student wearing a sweatshirt that read, "Oxford Strong."

The sweatshirts were given to students who survived a shooting at Oxford High School in December 2021 that left four students dead.

Representative Elissa Slotkin spoke about the Oxford Strong spotting, calling it "the most haunting picture" from the MSU tragedy.

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"We have children in Michigan who are living through their second school shooting in under a year and a half," she said. "If this is not a wake-up call to do something, I don't know what is."

Matthews shared that MSU students who survived the Oxford shooting reached out to her after she shared her experience on TikTok, describing the experience of surviving two shootings at just 21 years old as "incomprehensible."

She echoed Slotkin's frustration when she explained that she posted the TikTok to emphasize "the odds of being in a mass shooting in American is inexplicably higher than it should be."

MSU shooting illustrates devastating frequency of school shootings in the US

The annual March for Our Lives demonstration for gun reform was created by Gen Z activists who survived the school shooting in Parkland.
The annual March for Our Lives demonstration for gun reform was created by Gen Z activists who survived the school shooting in Parkland.  © SAUL LOEB / AFP

Only further proving the severity of the problem, the attack at MSU occurred on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead.

Born in the shadow of the Columbine massacre, Gen Z has been dubbed "the mass shooting generation" by Representative Maxwell Frost, and with clear justification.

School shootings have somehow become the norm for today's youth, and these repeat survivors are tragic proof of how negligent the US has been in response to the devastating killings.

The horrors of these attacks have followed this generation from elementary school all the way through college, with little hope for any meaningful change.

Though the horrific cycle may leave many feeling hopeless, the prospect of a new crop of Gen Z politicians who have grown up experiencing these repeated tragedies firsthand just might inspire some optimism for real change.

Cover photo: SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

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