四虎影院

After a mass shooting, people and resources pour into the community to help victims and survivors cope. , the grim infrastructure that springs up around them is growing larger and more sophisticated.

In early June, Sandy Phillips was in a rental car, driving south on Interstate 95 from Washington, D.C. to Virginia Beach. She and her husband Lonnie usually have their bags pre-packed with certain essentials, but they had not planned on making this trip.

鈥淪o we need to stop and buy underwear and some clothing to get through the rest of the week,鈥� Phillips said with a laugh. 鈥淏ut this is just part of what we do.鈥�

After hearing about a in Virginia Beach, the Phillips decided to head there from Washington, where they had traveled for an awards ceremony. Sandy guessed that it was the 11th mass shooting they had been to.

鈥淭he first one that we went to was five months after my daughter was killed in Aurora, at the movie theater鈥� then five months later, Sandy Hook happened,鈥� she explained. 鈥淪ince Sandy Hook, we have gone to almost every major national public mass shooting.鈥�

When they arrived in Virginia Beach, the Phillips first went to the site of the shooting to pay their respects and talk with police. Then they headed to a local recreation center to try and meet with survivors, although Sandy said people don鈥檛 always want to talk with them.

鈥淭he first thing we always tell them about is that, you know, we understand exactly what they鈥檙e feeling because we鈥檝e been in their shoes and that right now you don鈥檛 even feel like you want to live. You just want to curl up and die,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 a normal part of the trauma you have endured.鈥�

Sandy and Lonnie Phillips (right in green shirt) attended a September campaign event in Aurora, Colo., for Democratic presidential candidate Beto O鈥橰ourke, who advocated for various gun control measures during his stump speech.

Leigh Paterson / KUNC

Sandy and Lonnie Phillips spend much of the year on the road in their camper traveling to mass shootings and also to various centers of power to meet and lobby politicians. Near the end of the summer, they came to Colorado to attend a few gun-related events: gun control activist and former . So was .

Sandy Phillips said a lot has changed since they started working with survivors and advocating for gun control measures.

鈥淯nfortunately, I think we鈥檝e become more sophisticated at how we respond to it, which is good, but so sad 鈥� so very sad at the same time because that means our society is really broken,鈥� Sandy said. 鈥淭hat we have allowed this to redefine our country in such a way that we are getting good at how we respond to mass shootings and mass violence.鈥�

The Philips themselves have become more sophisticated over the years. Now, in addition to providing comfort to survivors and connecting them with other survivors, they give advice on how to deal with reporters, what to do about online harassment, and how to spot scammers trying to make money from tragedy.

鈥淲e, personally, here in Colorado, we had to fight with the charity that was taking in all the money using our children鈥檚 faces for donations, but had no intention of getting the money to the actual victims and survivors,鈥� Sandy Phillips said. 鈥淪o those are the things that we see shifting and changing.鈥�

A moment of prayer during a community memorial service at Southwest University Park in El Paso, Texas, in the wake of a mass shooting at a nearby Walmart.

Jonathan Levinson / OPB

In his role as the president of the El Paso Community Foundation, Eric Pearson is working to manage and administer donations after a at a Walmart there in August. Trying to determine how much money should go to whom can be complicated.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no formula,鈥� Pearson said. 鈥淵ou know, a good example is: How bad is the injury? What does that mean to you in terms of lost wages? What does that mean to you in terms of medical care? What does that mean to you in terms of caring for your children? And so each person has an individual set of needs that we鈥檙e trying to deal with.鈥�

Pearson, however, is not the first person to have to deal with this problem. He has been consulting with community foundations that have managed funds after mass shootings in other states. The El Paso Community Foundation is also working with the National Compassion Fund, an organization that the if they want to donate to El Paso victims but are worried about scams.

鈥淭hat says something about who we are, that we have had to deal with so many mass shootings. But it鈥檚 also comforting to know that people have been there鈥�We鈥檙e not walking through the forest blind,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a path in front of us and if we can find our part of that path, we can do right by this community.

A woman in El Paso, Texas, pets a comfort dog on August 14, 2019, at a memorial for the 22 people killed in a mass shooting there.

Jonathan Levinson, OPB / OPB

Sandy Phillips describes a predictable group of people she keeps running into after mass shootings: , religious groups like the , a lady from the Red Cross, and, more recently, therapy dogs. The Phillips saw them in El Paso.

A group of therapy dogs, like the golden retrievers that were stationed at the city鈥檚 memorial in the baseball stadium, were brought there by Lutheran Church Charities not long after the shooting.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e comfort dogs. These dogs live in Nebraska, Colorado and Texas,鈥� said Janice Marut, their handler. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been to Orlando, Santa Fe, [Hurricane] Harvey, Sutherland Springs. I mean, tornadoes, floods, fires 鈥� just wherever we鈥檙e asked to go. Unfortunately, too many shootings.鈥�

Therapy dogs have become a fixture on the scene after mass shootings. But, in El Paso, the Phillips also saw an organized group of people that they had never seen before: meeting with victims at the community center and hospitals.

鈥淪o the people who had witnessed the shooting and were upset and having trouble just breathing, just realizing what they had been through,鈥� Sandy Phillips said, 鈥渢hey were able to get help immediately. And that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e been preaching for seven years.鈥�

In fact, the work of those trauma therapists in El Paso is in line with a new project the Phillips are working on: building teams of survivors and trauma therapists to go into communities after incidents like mass shootings. They hope to pilot the program in Colorado, where their daughter was killed.

is a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life. Guns & America鈥檚 Jonathan Levinson contributed to this story.

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