And the day before that, and the day before that...

[KamaAina]

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_24928327/stockton-shooting-25-years-later-city-cant-forget

Twenty-five years ago Friday, Cleveland Elementary was the scene of one of the nation's worst school shootings -- years before Columbine, Virginia Tech and Newtown. Patrick Edward Purdy's three-minute shooting rampage left five children dead and 30 teachers and students wounded. All but one of those killed were offspring of Cambodian refugees who had survived the murderous Khmer Rouge....

But amid a renewed national gun debate reignited by an even deadlier school massacre 13 months ago in Connecticut, those who survived Stockton's horror can add an epilogue to Purdy's deadly lesson: Painful memories never go away but don't necessarily define the course of people's lives....

But the horror of that day is brought back with each new shooting, particularly the December 2012 spree that claimed 26 innocent lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. "It's there now always in front of our faces,"Weldon said. "We have to address it."

Purdy -- a 24-year-old man with mental illnesses, drug problems, a long history of mostly petty crimes and a racist chip on his shoulder -- ignited a cache of fireworks in his van near the school. He then leveled his semi-automatic rifle -- a Chinese version of the AK-47, bought legally in Oregon -- and fired 105 rounds before killing himself with his handgun.