Allie Young (l) and Stephanie Davies (r)
The AP photo above is of two young women — best friends — who were in that dark movie theater in Century 16, Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, 2012. Stephanie Davies, 21, had saved 19-year-old Allie Young’s life by applying pressure to Young’s gushing neck wound and helping her to safety. (Source)
There are other photos and accounts of the Aurora wounded, including a follow-up by the Denver Post half a year later, of Caleb Medley, a 23-year-old aspiring comedian who suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Medley was discharged from the University of Colorado Hospital on Sept. 12 and moved to an extended care facility in Denver. On Jan. 23, 2013, Caleb left the rehabilitation center and returned home.
For that matter, three days after the shooting, the media made much of Dark Knight actor Christian Bale visiting the hospital where many of the wounded were being treated. One of the wounded, Carey Rottman, posted on Facebook this photo of himself with Bale at his bedside:
Have you seen any photos or interviews with the wounded of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre?
No?
Why is that?
Not only have I not seen even one media interview or video of even one Sandy Hook wounded, I can’t even figure out exactly how many and who were wounded. Or how many and who are still hospitalized or had returned home.
According to Wikipedia, at approximately 10:00 a.m. on December 14, 2012, “Danbury Hospital scrambled extra medical personnel in expectation of having to treat numerous victims. Three wounded patients were evacuated to the hospital, where two children were later declared dead. The other was an unidentified adult.”
According to CBS New York, Dec. 14, 2013, “State Police Lt. Paul Vance said 18 children and six adults, including the school’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung, were pronounced dead at that scene. Two other children later died at the hospital. One other person was injured, Vance said. [...] Authorities said there was one survivor, teacher Nancy Hammond, who they hope will be helpful to the investigation.”
CBS New York posted the photo below as that of Nancy Hammond (credit: personal photo):
But according to Wikipedia, it was a “Natalie Hammond, lead teacher in the [staff] meeting room,” who was wounded. Hammond had “pressed her body against the door to keep it closed. Lanza shot Hammond through the door, in her leg and arm. She was later treated at Danbury Hospital.”
Furthermore, “The police reported that a second adult was wounded in the attack, but that individual was not publicly identified.”
Newstimes.com also identifies the wounded teacher as Natalie Hammond: “Hammond was shot in the foot, leg and hand, but managed to crawl to safety behind a door. Lanza then went down the hall to two classrooms, where he killed 20 children and four teachers. Ten minutes later, Lanza fired a bullet into his own head.”
Hammond’s best friend of 22 years is Anika Sonski. Although Sonski had talked with Hammond after the shooting, she said she knows only the barest details of what occurred. “To protect Hammond’s privacy and that of her family,” Sonski will not talk about her wounded friend’s condition, prognosis or where she was being treated. Sonski said Hammond’s “family is in a self-imposed seclusion due to the barrage of media that has surrounded them.”
There you have it:
- Three (or four) Sandy Hook wounded were taken to hospitals.
- Two of the wounded were children, but they died. Names unknown.
- One of the wounded survived — an adult school teacher named Nancy or Natalie Hammond. Age unknown; her whereabouts unknown. I can find no media interview with her.
- According to one account, a second adult was wounded. Name, age, sex, occupation, whereabouts unknown.
The Sandy Hook wounded are important eyewitnesses to the shooting. Their testimonies can verify whether there was only one gunman or two or more; and whether Adam Lanza was the or a shooter.
But the media are not in the least interested in finding and speaking with the wounded, although it would be newsworthy and riveting.
By order of a Connecticut State Superior Court judge, law enforcement’s lips are sealed — for 90 days, until late March 2013. By that time, the already disinterested media will even be less likely to report on what the police know and finally can reveal.
And that may precisely be what the local and state governments and the media are counting on.
~Eowyn
