(WXYZ) — The victims of the Oxford High School shooting spoke during sentencing of the shooter on Friday.
The first speaker was Molly Darnell, a teacher who was shot three times in her upper arm.
Darnell said she encountered the shooter in the hallway, and she will always have the memory of him raising the gun.
"You do not have the power to destroy who I am. In my heart, I still carry love, joy and hope," Darnell said at the sentencing.
"I still believe in the power of humanity. There is simply too much good in this world for your actions to destroy that," she added.
Next was Kylie Ossege, who was shot in her back and spent months in the hospital after the shooting.
Kylie gave graphic details about what she remembered from the shooting, laying down on the ground next to Hana St. Juliana, her legs not being able to move, and hearing the blood squish against her ear.
"I refuse to let the cowardly acts of a person affect the rest of my life. I will continue and live on for those that we lost. I will continue to walk around MSU’s campus strong and proud. I will continue to have compassion and spread love and joy and positivity everywhere I step foot," Ossege said. "I will proceed to stand up against gun violence, and nothing will ever stop me from living my life to the absolute fullest."
Riley Franz was the third person to speak about what happened during the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021.
"I can no longer sleep without having flashbacks. I feel limited on what I can do at 19 years old," she said.
"Although I survived, the original pieces of me didn't," she added.
Franz said the scariest part was not the day of the shooting, but instead the days that have followed it.
"I feel like I cannot breathe because I feel like I’m paralyzed," she said.
She said she is so much more than a victim. She is a daughter, a sister, a friend, a classmate, a cousin, a granddaughter, and most important, a person.
Two other students who were shot, both of whom are minors, also spoke. We are not using their video.
After a break, Linda Watson, the mother of Aiden Watson, who was shot at Oxford High School, spoke at the sentencing.
She talked about what Aiden has gone through in the years since the shooting, and told the shooter to listen to what she had to say.
More students and families took to the podium Friday afternoon to share that while they may not have physical scars, the emotional trauma from that day continues.
