Letter: Remembering the Sandy Hook victims

This year while attending Washington High School's 'Cocoa and Carols,” I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness when I realized the participating 5th grade students from the Arthur, Garfield and Kenwood elementary schools were kindergartners in 2012.

In 2012, on Dec. 14, 20 first-graders and six educators were killed in the mass school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

I will never forget the images of grieving parents and a shocked community on that December day in 2012. Nor will I forget the angelic and smiling faces of the fifth-graders at 'Cocoa and Carols” and wonder what might have been.

To commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the documentary Newtown will be shown at the Cedar Rapids Public Library on Thursday, Dec. 14.

The film, recommended for adults only due to its sensitive nature, is free and open to the public. It will begin at 5:45 p.m. in Beems Auditorium A. The event is sponsored by Iowans for Gun Safety.

Barbara Hartle

Cedar Rapids