A woman whose daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre relived the horror Tuesday when a gunman opened fire on children at a Texas elementary school.
When Michele Gay saw the news that 19 students and two teachers were killed inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, life froze again.
"Everything just stops, time stands still," she said. "And our hearts are with them, with the community, with the families."
She knows the pain because her daughter, Joey, was one of 20 students were killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
"She really inspired us, and on a day like today, I'm holding onto her really tightly," said Gay.
More on the Uvalde school shooting
Joey, a first-grader at the time, would have been 17 this year. The years have passed, and milestones have been missed, but Michele Gay said her daughter has been a driving force. She formed the group "Safe and Sound Schools" in the years after the tragedy at Sandy Hook.
"There's no reason that somebody should be able to set foot on a school campus like, like this attacker," she said.
Gay has gone around the country, focusing on school safety, prevention measures, social and emotional learning as well as mental health.
"It's about doubling down and tripling down on the things that work," she said.
But she said right now what families in Uvalde, Texas, need the most is the support of the community. She knows what this day and the days after are like.
"It's still not believable, all these years later, and I think that's part of why this one is hitting us so hard," she said. "It's unthinkable. It's unthinkable all over again."
