

In each shooting’s wake, the children and adults who die and those who murder them become the focus of intense national attention. It is slated to travel next to North Park Elementary in San Bernardino, Calif., where in April a man killed his estranged wife, who was a teacher there, and fatally wounded an 8-year-old before taking his own life. The gunfire had stopped by then, and, in a room on the other side of the school, Collin had discovered the source of all that blood. “Let us in,” Siena begged, and the kids were hustled inside. Karson then turned back to the school and found his classmates banging on a door. At the initial sound of gunshots, he scrambled over a fence on the opposite side of the playground and briefly headed toward the baseball fields where, as a Townville Giant, he had gotten his first recreation league hit. Karson Robinson, one of the biggest kids in class, hadn’t waited for instructions. “Run!” Siena recalled a teacher shouting, and she did.

Until that moment, her most serious concern had been which “How to Train Your Dragon” toy she would get for her upcoming seventh birthday. Standing on the wood chips near a yellow tube slide, Siena Kibilko felt stunned. He had been just a few steps behind her at the door, but she never saw him come out. Nowhere in sight, though, was Jacob Hall, the tiny boy with oversize, thick-lensed glasses Ava had decided to marry when they grew up. She sprinted toward the far side of the building, rounding a corner to safety. The Daisy Scout remembered what her mom had said: If something doesn’t feel right, run.
