Wednesday, January 17, 2024, marked 35 years since five students were shot and killed and 32 others wounded at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton. It was one of America’s first mass school shootings.
Cleveland School Remembers hosted a vigil at Central United Methodist Church on Pacific Avenue in Stockton in commemoration of the shooting and to honor all the lives lost from gun violence.
Judy Weldon, a Cleveland School Teacher and survivor of the 1989 mass shooting, spoke with CBS News about the aftermath of the shooting 35 years later.
“Most children today grow up knowing that at some point they could be fleeing bullets,” said Judy.
Judy was teaching second grade at Cleveland when three of her students were wounded. She remembers that day well and showed CBS13 the terrifying images that students drew in therapy the next day.
“This is the part that scares me the most, the blood,” said Judy as she read one of the drawings. “The shooter was here at one of the portables. The playground and where children fell near the tetherballs.”
Although active shooter training for students and staff is the new norm in most schools, Judy believes this often leads to more trauma for children. She presented a sobering thought, “It doesn’t make me feel at peace because there will always be a gunman,” said Judy. See Judy’s full address at the ceremony.
As a group, Cleveland School Remembers supports better gun safety laws and urges all communities to become active in campaigns to promote public safety.
To become more active in Stockton, Contact us at: info@clevelandschoolremembers.org