Sandy Hook PSA on school shooting paints grim reality for students
A public service announcement released Wednesday by Sandy Hook Advocacy is shocking.
“Back to School Essentials” shows students on what appears to be a typical day and then dealing with gun violence.
Sandy Hook Advocacy is a nonprofit formed after 20 6 and 7 year olds and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. The advocacy group issued a disclaimer to go along with the video:
Please note that this PSA contains graphic content related to school shootings that may be upsetting to some viewers. If you feel that this subject matter may be too difficult for you, you may choose not to watch this video.
Students begin to describe the necessities that every student must have — school binders, a backpack and even headphones.
The 67-second video turns dark, quickly, with a student running down a hall pointing to his new sneakers as screams can be heard in the background.
A student breaks a window with his new skateboard, a girl ties a door with a new jacket, students are jumping out windows with the sound of gunfire in the background.
Students in art class look ready to defend themselves with scissors and pencils. New socks help save a student who has been shot in the leg.
The chilling video ends with a young girl huddled in a dark bathroom texting her mom as the door opens and footsteps can be heard.
“It’s meant to be an intense video,” Nicole Hockley, managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, told CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday. Her son, 6-year-old Dylan Hockley, was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. “This is what our kids are experiencing now in school.”
At the beginning of each school year, Sandy Hook Promise produces a new public service announcement to reinforce what students face and that gun violence can be prevented, Hockley said.