It’s ‘shock yet again,’ say Newtown parents

For the families of the 20 children and six adults killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Tuesday’s horrific events were a jolt back to their own trauma.

The gunman who allegedly opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday, sent shock waves straight to the hearts of people like Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was killed that dark December day.

Speaking to Joy Reid on MSNBC Tuesday evening, Hockley said she knew what parents were in for over the coming days, having lived through it herself.

“I don’t think that these parents at the moment have any idea” of what’s in store emotionally, she said.

“No one expects to take their child in the morning and never see them again,” she told Reid. “Right now I am feeling in shock yet again just reliving that day and thinking about what these families and this community are going through right now.”

“Sandy Hook was supposed to be the last time this ever happened,” said Reid.

“Sandy Hook should have never been the first,” Hockley noted. “It’s just not right.”

Hockley (photo) said she was braced for the usual messaging.

“We’re going to hear politicians who have voted no on simple measures come out and offer thoughts and prayers but no action,” Hockley said, noting that the country has only gotten more divided in the nearly 10 years since Sandy Hook.

“I just don’t know how many people — how many children — have to die before politicians stop caring more about their political careers than they do about their constituents,” Hockley said. “I just wonder sometimes if they even have a soul. It’s ridiculous.”

The children of Sandy Hook are now in college and high school, she noted.

“Kids now, this is all they’ve known their whole life,” Hockley said. “We have traumatized them through our inaction. They’re the ones who are forever shaped because we did nothing.”