On August 14, 2019, while I was home from college for the summer, I woke up to a text that changed my life forever. It was a news article link from my roommate, which stated that there had been a shooting at our college home. That morning I found out that my roommate Stephanie had been murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who also had lived with us. We learned that after she had broken up with him a few weeks before, he broke into our home and shot her multiple times. He then calmly turned himself in.
I am a 21-year-old college student who lost one of my closest friends to senseless gun violence. She had no chance of survival. Because he was able to so easily and legally obtain a gun and do this, our best friend is gone. I feel broken, numb, scared, anxious and unable to trust new people. I’ll never see my best friend again because someone who shouldn’t be able to buy a gun was easily able to do so. Stephanie was a leader, an amazing chef, a thoughtful friend, and a family-oriented person with a great sense of humor, and we miss her more each day.