Mr. Chair and members of the committee, on July 22, 2018, what started off as a night of excitement in celebrating my 18th birthday ended in sheer horror and misery. It has been almost five years since the Danforth shooting, and I still struggle to find the words to speak about what my friends and I experienced that night.
We were robbed of our innocence that day. We lost our sense of safety, security, trust and faith in society, but the most painful part of all was losing our best friend: Reese Fallon.
We didn't only lose Reese that day. We lost all the precious moments and milestones of life that she looked forward to the most. Reese will never be able to get married, have kids or live out her dream of being a nurse. Everything was taken from her in a matter of minutes, and all we were doing was eating ice cream out on a summer night.
Another precious life lost that evening was that of 10-year-old Julianna Kozis. While I did not know Julianna personally, her family shared stories of her pure, kind and loving heart. Julianna's legacy is kept alive through the kindness she embodied in life.
While this was an uncontrollable event, the only control we have is fighting for change. Today, I sit alongside Ken Price, Claire Smith, Samantha Price and Ali Demircan, all members of Danforth Families for Safe Communities.
No one ever deserves to experience what we went through that night. This is why legislation is vital and crucial. I don't want any more thoughts and prayers. I want policy and action. We hold a responsibility to ensure that no one experiences the pain and sorrow that we do.
Unfortunately, we learned the grave effects of a mass shooting. The Danforth shooting has left an everlasting impact on Reese's and Julianna's friends, family and community as a whole. To those who have tried to minimize this grief to defend their position, just know that gun violence is felt widely, deeply and profoundly, and it does not just simply go away.