I already lost a son to gun violence and it almost happened to my daughter. The idea of ​​burying another child is inconceivable.

I’m not well.

My 18-year-old daughter, Victoria Porter, was at an outdoor party at Tuskegee University in Alabama during a deadly mass shooting during the weekend. When shots rang out, Victoria said she ran for her life.

As she fled, thoughts of having been shot in the back filled her head, Victoria said.

“I thought I was going to die,” she said.

I’m not well.

Victoria is a freshman at Alabama State University in nearby Montgomery. She was with a group of other ASU students at a party on the Tuskegee campus when things went horribly wrong.

The shooting happened during Tuskegee’s 100th Homecoming weekend. Immediately afterwards, Victoria told me and her mother that she was holding up well. During our conversation this week, I stressed to him the importance of protecting his mental and spiritual health.

She gave me permission to share her experience.

When the shooting began, Victoria said she and a group of friends first hid behind a vehicle and then later, amid a barrage of gunfire, behind a dumpster. At one point, they started running across an open field toward a chapel on campus, she said.

Once at the chapel, Victoria said she vomited and then laid down on the floor in a panic.

“I heard over 100 gunshots,” she said. “It was like a war zone there. I was terrified.

A day after the shooting, she said she was fine. I’m not.

Arrest made in Tuskegee shooting

La’Tavion Johnson, 18, of Troy, Alabama, was killed in the shooting and 16 other people were injured, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Twelve of the injured were shot, authorities said.

Federal officials charged Jaquez Myrick, 25, of Montgomery, with possession of a machine gun in connection with the shooting, officials said.

Why would Myrick, as is alleged – or anyone for that matter – bring a machine gun to a homecoming party?

I pray that the shooting victims and their families find peace during these difficult times.

“Shooting Crazy Guns”

I’ve written before about how gun violence took my son’s life, Toriano II. He was fatally shot on September 28, 2009 in north St. Louis. A little over 15 years later, I’m very grateful that this isn’t a repeat column.

Victoria is a resilient young woman. Even though she was only 3 years old when Toriano II died, she has fond memories of him. As she ran to hide in Tuskegee, she told me she was thinking about her brother. As a family, we are lucky that Victoria and her friends were not injured.

Victoria grew up in a pretty rough neighborhood in South St. Louis, where gunshots weren’t that rare. What happened early Sunday morning in Tuskegee was like nothing she had heard before, Victoria said.

“They were shooting crazy guns,” she said.

Victoria said she and her classmates had just arrived at the party — one of several Tuskegee homecoming celebrations this week — when she noticed a group of people running. She estimated they had only been there about 10 minutes.

Then the sound of rapid fire sent my eldest daughter and her friends rushing – I watched images taken from a cell phone video over and over again and I can only imagine the fear these young people faced.

Mass shootings are common

When will senseless gun violence end in America? One way or another, we must, as a nation, address this unrestricted access to high-caliber weapons that continues to destroy families across the country.

Unfortunately, mass shootings are more common than you think: schools don’t hold lockdown drills for nothing. Judicious gun reform could prevent many of these tragedies, gun control advocates said. Second Amendment hardliners and their lackeys in Congress fought reform at every level.

And it’s infuriating. So far this year, there have been more than 455 mass shootings, or more than one per day, in the United States, according to the Gun violence archives.

The nonpartisan group against gun violence defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are injured or killed. Until Congress addresses gun control, there will be more unthinkable tragedies like Sunday’s in Alabama.

Here in Kansas City, we were reminded earlier this year how pervasive mass shootings are. None of us should ever forget the gunfire that erupted during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade at Union Station.

In this deadly shooting, Lisa Lopez-Galvanmother and popular DJ, died and at least 24 other people were injured. I then thought: Who Brings a Gun to a Super Bowl Parade?

My question now: why on earth would anyone bring a machine gun (or any other powerful weapon) to the Tuskegee homecoming party?

Thank goodness Victoria and her friends escaped that mass shooting unscathed.

However, I’m not doing well.