A sign encourages prayer outside an ice cream shop in Aztec the day after a shooting at Aztec High School on Dec. 7, 2017, in which two classmates were killed before the gunman killed himself.
A sign encourages prayer outside an ice cream shop in Aztec the day after a shooting at Aztec High School on Dec. 7, 2017, in which two classmates were killed before the gunman killed himself.Associated Press file

Last week, Kirk Siegler an NPR national desk correspondent, spent a few days in Aztec to interview students, school officials and community members about how they are healing and what they feel needs to happen to prevent gun violence in schools.

Siegler’s stories aired this morning on NPR. From one story:

“I feel like my security has been taken away from me,” Sarah Gifford says.

‘Three months ago, the 17-year-old junior was in the hallway just a few minutes before a 21-year-old gunman, who’d posed as a student, walked up and down firing randomly. He killed two students before turning the gun on himself as police closed in.

‘I don’t even go to the mall or Walmart the same way because I’m scared someone’s just gonna come in,’ Gifford says.

“Gifford’s voice shakes and she fights back tears when she talks about the morning of December 7. Two of her classmates, Casey Marquez and Francisco Fernandez, are dead.”

Listen to Siegler’s story “Months Before Fla. School Shooting, N.M. Deaths Got Little Notice” here:

Listen to the second story, “Why Some Educators In New Mexico Are Calling For Teachers To Be Armed” here:

Siegler, who is based in Los Angles, covers the “urban-rural divide,” which he explains as “the intersection between urban and rural life, culture, and politics.”