She survived a school shooting. Now her children have too

“Mom, there’s a shooter,” Michelle’s fifth grader said through the phone. Something about her son’s serious tone was familiar. “If you’ve ever gotten a call that a loved one passed away … that kind of tone,” Michelle explained. She knew that tone. The 40-year-old mother would later compare it to the sound of her principal’s voice echoing through the loudspeaker 25 years ago: “Lockdown! Lockdown!” When she was in ninth grade, a former classmate opened fire at her high school in El Cajon, California. Like then, she immediately knew in her gut the situation with her son was serious. And Michelle was right. A former student had just shot through the glass doors of her son’s school, Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Oregon, and opened fire on a special needs classroom, killing a beloved teacher and three students.