It’s been 10 years since 20 children and six adults were killed in a tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012, per CNN.
Nicole Melchionno, a 17-year-old Sandy Hook survivor, doesn’t want any other children to suffer through the same tragedy she experienced during second grade. In an interview with People Magazine, Melchionno spoke out publicly ahead of the massacre’s 10-year anniversary and shared the efforts she has put forth in the past few years to prevent mass shootings.
“Kids shouldn’t have to worry when they go to school,” Melchionno told People Magazine.
Ten years ago, Melchionno was just 7 years old when a 20-year-old gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary through a glass window with an AR-15 assault rifle, two semi-automatic weapons and endless ammunition, per People.
The shooter traveled in the opposite direction of Melchionno’s classroom, and went directly for a first grade classroom. It was the first mass shooting in the U.S. at an elementary school, and remains one of the deadliest on record.
Melchionno and her class huddled in their classroom against the backpack cubbies as the sound of gunfire traveled through hallways. “The intercom was left on, so everything was amplified,” Melchionno recalls, per People.
“I thought I was never going to see my family again,” Melchionno told People. “I was scared that I was going to die.”
When law enforcement arrived, Melchionno, her classmates and their teachers escaped to a nearby firehouse, where they met up with friends and family.
Melchionno, like other survivors of the shooting, experienced intense anxiety, nightmares and a fear of crowds. She remains traumatized by the events she suffered through that day, per People.
“I couldn’t get the sounds out of my head during the night,” Andrew, another Sandy Hook survivor, told ABC News in June. “I couldn’t close my eyes without reliving it.”
Melchionno’s efforts to end gun violence
As an increasing number of mass shooting made news headlines after Sandy Hook, Melchionno decided it was time to start her own fight against gun violence. She began getting involved in 2018, during eighth grade, when Melchionno said she took part in March for Our Lives.
The march was a student-led demonstration held in Washington, D.C., to push for gun control legislation, per Smithsonian Magazine. Melchionno described the demonstration as “empowering” per People.
Melchionno took her efforts further in 2020, when she joined the Junior Newtown Action Alliance, a group connected to the Newton Action Alliance, an organization focused on gun violence prevention. In 2021, she became the Junior Newtown Action Alliance’s legislative coordinator.
It wasn’t until the Uvalde, Texas, shooting at Robb Elementary School in May, which killed 19 students and two teachers, that Melchionno was ready to work harder.
“It sparked something in me,” she says, per People. “I felt that I needed to do more.”
Since then, Melchionno has spoken publicly at rallies in D.C. and news conferences in Connecticut. She also attended the historic June 24 signing of the Bipartisan Gun Bill on the White House South Lawn.
“I’m trying to turn my anxiety and frustration into purpose by working on this issue,” said Melchionno, who joined March for Our Lives this year as the group lobbied senators on Capitol Hill about an assault weapons ban, per People.
Melchionno will return to the nation’s capital again this month, to attend the 10th anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting at the Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence.
“I am hopeful for the future,” she told People. “But more needs to be done.”