271: Point Blank #3: What if you shielded your students?
This Is Actually Happening
The Power of Empathy
"It's hard for people to understand the amount of trauma and how it gets in every fiber of your being," he says. "Without that package of support, I don't know if I'd be here today."
Coming from a career in the military, law enforcement and police dispatch, Ken Yuers found his true calling as a teacher for at-risk youth, and eventually landed a job at Rancho Tehama elementary, when one day in 2017, gunshots outside the classroom brought a horror on him and his students that he never imagined.
Today’s episode is Part Two of our limited series, “Point Blank,” featuring five stories of people impacted by the spree killing of Rancho Tehama California in 2017. There, a lone gunman killed his wife, then his neighbors and then began a shooting spree, attacking 8 different locations in the span of only 25 minutes, ending at elementary school, and leaving 6 people dead and 18 wounded.
This series is co-produced by This Is Actually Happening creator and host, Whit Missildine and Connor Sheets, investigative journalist with the Los Angeles Times, with special thanks to Jason Blalock, and Andrew Waits. To find out more about the shooting, you can read the original article by Connor that inspired the story, titled: “It was California’s forgotten mass shooting. But for victims, the ‘hell’ never ends,” on the latimes.com
Producers: Whit Missildine, Connor Sheets
Editors: Whit Missildine, Jason Blalock
Content/Trigger Warnings: gun violence, mass shooting, death, child endangerment, explicit language
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Connor Sheets
Twitter: @ConnorASeets
Website: www.thisisactuallyhappening.com
Website for Jason Blalock: www.jasonblalock.com
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Intro Music: ""Illabye" – Tipper
Music and Sound Design by: Marcelino Villalpando
Services
If you or someone you know is struggling with the effects of trauma or mental illness, please refer to the following resources:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264
National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
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