25-year-old Abby speaks publicly for the first time about the event that changed her life. In the interview, she is asked what she remembers about the day.
She remembers well how the student, who was in her class, pointed the gun at her. “I remember the look on his face. I remember the gun going off. I remember feeling something.”
Weapon in backpack
The incident occurred around 2 p.m. at a school with more than 500 students in Newport News, Virginia. According to the police, the boy had taken the gun to school in his backpack. He had taken his mother’s gun.
At the hospital, Abby was told the gunshot wound could have been fatal. She most likely survived because the bullet went through her hand. Footage from the interview shows her left hand wrapped in medical gauze.
“The first shot went through my left hand and hit the middle bone as well as my index finger and my thumb. The bullet then went into my chest where it actually still is,” she says, looking to a spot above her heart points. “So I have a scar here and some bullet fragments here.”
Abby also says that in the first moments after the shooting, she mainly thought about the safety of the other students. She was the first to get the children to safety, despite her own injuries. She was then taken away by ambulance herself.
Nightmares
All told, Abby calls it “a pretty scary day.” She says she has not yet processed the shooting. She still suffers from nightmares every night and sometimes finds it difficult to get out of bed. “I don’t know when the shock will ever go away. I still think about it every day.”
