KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa, left a community grieving.
While Perry is over three hours from Kansas City, an incident like this impacts many, including some who live right here in our community.
Luciana De Anda was a senior at Olathe East High School when there was a shooting at her school in March 2022. The incident in Iowa brought up emotions of pain, anxiety and frustration.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Caroline Hogan
"There was a gun at a school, and it shouldn’t have been there, and people were hurt," De Anda said. "A whole year every day, not a day went by when I didn’t think about it, and still I think about it most days."
De Anda and her classmates previously spoke with KSHB 41 about their experiences that day.
The now University of Missouri student remembers the last few months of her high school year as a dark time.
"Prom and graduation, and trying to get through those hard AP classes — those are the things I was supposed to be stressed out about or looking forward to, and I didn’t get to enjoy any of that," she said.
Almost two years later, it still hurts. De Anda recalls a time where she thought she heard gunshots and had a panic attack.
"I felt like I was back at square one," she said.
Time and a strong community has helped her heal.
"My advice for anybody going through that is to lean on the people around you, because, you do have people," she said.
While those feelings of pain and anxiety may never go away, De Anda doesn't let the experience define her. Rather, she describes it as something that's changed her.
"Being back at square one doesn’t mean you can’t come back again," she said.
—
