![]() ![]() “As a superintendent, a mother and a long-time member of this community, I cannot adequately express the grief, pain and frustration I feel when I hear of yet another young life gone,” said Torres-Rodriguez in the aftermath of Vega-Martinez’s death. There have been at least 20 deadly shootings in the city so far this year, down from the 22 reported by this point in 2022, but for the educators grappling with the impacts of the violence on the city’s youth, the trauma load is a heavy one. Police investigating after 2 teen boys were shot in Hartford “Unfortunately, our community is experiencing that trauma time and time again.”Įarly Sunday morning, two 14-year-old boys showed up to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center with gunshot wounds as police were investigating reports of gunfire at 257 Westland St. Friends, classmates, students at neighboring schools, coaches, teachers and staff experience the grief and fear that comes with losing a loved one and feeling unsafe in their own community,” the superintendent said. “When one of our students is affected by violence, our entire district is impacted. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, superintendent of Hartford Public Schools. Beyond that, the trauma of experiencing violence as a young person can last throughout adulthood,” said Dr. “What happens in our city, in our neighborhoods, and on our streets has an impact on our students’ ability to learn, socialize and succeed in school. School district officials in Hartford agreed that the impacts of city gun violence are long-lasting and far-reaching. “It takes a long time to change those brain pathways that you’ve been building since you were born,” said Chozick. ![]() That trauma, she said, keeps them in fight or flight mode and can often lead young people to become agents of violence themselves.Ĭompass operates a four-year program meant to help youth work through trauma and prepare them for the future with the help of “peacebuilders” who guide them to approach different situations in nonviolent ways. Teen girl killed in violent Hartford home invasion recalled as leader, artist, athleteĬhozick said that at Compass, an organization that provides street-level mentorship, mediation and supportive relationships to Hartford residents ages 16 to 20, 69% of the youth they work with have lost a family member or close friend to community violence. “How do you learn when the night before a bullet went through your house? Or a 17-year-old friend who was on your volleyball team was killed?” “I think about the kids that walk past the yellow tape on their way to school and then they sit down in a classroom and teachers expect them to be ready to learn,” Chozick said. On April 20, 12-year-old Se’Cret Pierce, a seventh-grade student at Milner Middle School in Hartford, was fatally shot in the head during a drive-by quadruple shooting. She was one of at least four people, including one of the suspects, killed by gunfire in the city in a four-day span last week and the second Hartford Public Schools student to be shot to death in three months, according to police and school officials. Vega-Martinez, a rising senior of Bulkeley High School, was shot multiple times after three people reportedly forced their way into her apartment on Maple Avenue, tied up Vega-Martinez and a 15-year-old boy and exchanged gunfire with someone who lived in the apartment, according to the arrest warrant for one of the suspects. ![]() “I just don’t understand why we can’t work together to protect our youth.” In his 11 years working in Hartford Public Schools, he said he’s lost at least four students to gun violence. Juste heard that his 17-year-old student Alondra Vega-Martinez had been shot and killed, it was an all too familiar pain. ![]()
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