Michigan State University Student Who Survived Sandy Hook Massacre Recounts Devastating Experiences

A Michigan State University (MSU) student who survived the Sandy Hook massacre more than a decade ago has shared that dealing with the aftermath of the shooting at the university seemed all too familiar to her.

MSU was the site of a deadly gun violence incident that unfolded Monday after a 43-year-old shooter opened fire in Berkey Hall on its East Lansing campus late in the night, killing three and injuring five others. A shelter-in-place order was issued as the police acted on the reports of another gunfire at the nearby MSU student union.

While speaking to Today, Jackie Matthews, 21, said the MSU shooting evoked her chilling past memories of the 2012 bloodbath and the heartbreak that followed. She revealed that the first thing that crossed her mind Monday was if her friends and professors were fine.

"What was going through my mind was: 'Are my friends OK? Are my professors OK? Who at Michigan State is being affected?'" Matthews said. "Immediately after, I was just heartbroken that another community will have to try and recover from such a tragic experience."

At least 20 students died in the shooting that unfolded at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012. Seven teachers also lost their lives in the incident. While giving her account of the shooting to the Wall Street Journal, Matthews said she developed long-term back pain from crouching with her friends during the rampage as well as PTSD.

Matthew was only 11 when she watched the horror unfold at the elementary school. Now a senior at MSU, she knew how to better handle the situation. Matthews told Today that when she learned about the shooting upon returning to her off-campus home, she started contacting her on-campus friends to make sure they were fine.

"Texts spread like wildfire. We had friends in the building as well, so it happened very quickly and escalated very rapidly," she recalled.

To her, the Monday shooting was like a "muscle memory," a byproduct of having lived through another shooting.

Matthews elaborated on both shooting experiences in her life in a TikTok video that has now gone viral. "The fact that this is the second mass shooting that I have now lived through is incomprehensible," Matthews said in the clip. "My heart goes out to all the families and friends of the victims ... but we can no longer just provide love and prayers. There needs to be legislation; there needs to be action. It's not OK. We can no longer allow this to happen. We can no longer be complacent."

"I told my rowing team and my sorority and all the other organizations that I'm in that I am always going to be an outlet for them," she added. "I had numerous people reach out to me about their experiences from last night — where they were at the time and what they saw — and I offered support services and lots of love."

Matthew then said that if she ever got caught in a third shooting, a possibility she couldn't rule out looking at the sequence of events, she would raise her voice and the chorus of other survivors to call for a change in gun laws.