BALTIMORE — Michele Gay grew up in Columbia and went to Centennial High School.
Her husband Bob grew up in Towson and went to Calvert Hall.
During college they met and fell in love in Baltimore.
Bob got a great job opportunity in Newtown, Connecticut and the family moved North.
Michele Gay was the first person we thought of when the news came out of a mass shooting from inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Officials said 19 children and two adults were killed in the shooting by an 18-year-old.
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What do you ask a mother who has been through this? You don’t, you just listen.
Ten years ago this year, the Gay's 7-year-old daughter, Josephine Gay, was killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty children between the ages of 6 and 7 years old were killed by 20-year-old Adam Lanza. '
MORE: Officials explain how gunman entered Texas classroom, killing 19 students, 2 teachers
Michele Gay, who moved back to Maryland, told WMAR-2 News Anchor Jamie Costello that after that tragic shooting in Texas, memories started rushing back from the December 14, 2012 day in Newtown, Connecticut.
“I was working from home real comfy on my couch on the laptop when my phone started blowing up,” said Michele Gay.
Don’t think that after almost 10 years of tears, she didn’t have any left.
“The hardest part was putting my two surviving kids on the Newtown bus to send them to school," Michele Gay said. "They wanted to go, but I wanted to home school them, but I accidentally made the right decision.”
Michele Gay started a foundation called "Safe and Sound Schools."
It’s a detailed plan on keeping our kids safe at school.
Asked if she would have sent her kids to school today, she said, “Yes,”
Michele Gay said we should alert the teacher, the principal, the police when we see something on social media, or a red flag.
She doesn’t have time for politicians.
But she will tell you she knows what every parent is going through in Texas tonight.
Michele Gay plans to visit Texas to meet with the brokenhearted families.
To learn more about "Safe and Sound Schools," visit this website.
