NPR

After A Mass Shooting, Families Feel 'A Pain That Will Never Go Away'

After the vigils and the reporters move on to the next mass shooting, the families are left to deal with the grief. "I feel like it never ends," says Jane Dougherty, who lost her sister at Sandy Hook.
From left, sisters Sue, Mary and Jane in 2009. Jane says Mary's death at Sandy Hook is "a weight you kind of drag around in your life."

Every time there is a mass shooting in the United States, there is a flurry of concentration on those who died, the alleged or confessed perpetrator, and the sobered, devastated town that will be forever changed.

Then at some point, the press caravan moves on — from Sutherland Springs, from Orlando, from Las Vegas. And within weeks, or sometimes just days, another mass shooting is being reported.

The public attention moves on,

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min read
Police Enter UCLA Anti-war Encampment; Arizona Repeals Civil War-era Abortion Ban
Law enforcement officers have moved into a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA. Arizona lawmakers voted to repeal a Civil War-era abortion ban.
NPR3 min readAmerican Government
A Michigan Grassroots Effort Is Raising Reparations, While The Government Lags
The year 2020 was a turning point for Lansing, Michigan resident Willye Bryan. Between the racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd and the health disparities that hit the African American community during the pandemic, she knew it was t
NPR4 min read
A Poet Searches For Answers About The Short Life Of A Writer In 'Traces Of Enayat'
Poet Iman Mersal's book is a memoir of her search for knowledge about the writer Enayat al-Zayyat; it's a slow, idiosyncratic journey through a layered, changing Cairo — and through her own mind.

Related Books & Audiobooks