General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This is Victoria. She died a hero today. [View all]caseymoz
(5,763 posts)I'd love to believe it, but whenever something like this comes out, I try to verify it. According to Snopes, this was a rumor that started very shortly after the shooting. It was reported by the Hartford Courant, with an anonymous source. So far, they don't know the conditions of Victoria Soto's death. This story here is unverified. There's a problem with it. If the kids were all hidden, who saw this? Who heard her tell the gunman the children were in the gym? However, this isn't a downright hoax. It may be true.
In any tragedy like this, don't trust the first reports that come out, or even the second or third. People are far too panicked and grief-stricken. Their minds are jumping all over trying to put together a narrative on the scantiest information. The hysteria can spread to people trying to report the story and to the responders. Plus, witnesses aren't in any condition to verify anything. So you have few questions being asked by the media, and few questions answered when they are asked. Just be happy if they have the body count right on the first day. I commend them.
Human beings need to comfort themselves in a tragedy like this. They try to make hero stories out of horror stories as quickly as possible, just so they could stand the grief.
Whether it happened or not, it's terrible the way her life and those of all the others ended. I look at her picture and the rest and try not to sob, and I'm a thousand miles away from it.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/newtown.asp