SPOKANE, Wash. — Editor's note: To ensure the anonymity the victims, they will be identified with their initials.
For the second day, Students, parents, counselors, teachers and other members of the community are sharing the impact that the Freeman High School shooting had had on their lives.
About 150 people are expected to share their victim impact statements with the court over the next few weeks. Those statements are being shared in-person, via zoom, or written statements.
The victim impact statements give the people affected by the shooting a chance to share their stories ahead of sentencing, which is expected in a few weeks.
Caleb Sharpe, the shooter, has been present in court as victim advocates read statements from those impacted by the shooting that took place four years ago. Many of the statements said his actions altered the fabric of their lives. On the first day of testimony, the shooter stared down at the table as those statements were being read.
Nearly all statements have asked the judge to give the shooter the maximum sentence. An equal number of speakers ended their statements with the phrase "Freeman Strong."
"I ask for the maximum sentence to be handed down," an advocate read on behalf of a victim. "At least that would make a small bit of justice and peace of mind for those families impacted the most and for our entire community."
A victim impact statement from K.S., the best friend of one of the victims injured in the shooting, was read in court on Tuesday morning. In her statement, Smith recalled what she remembered from the day of the shooting.
"I could tell you everything that happened that day bit by bit in fine detail," she wrote in her statement. "I could tell you about how I was afraid that someone was going to burst into the classroom that I was hiding in and try to shoot me. Or how I was hearing that my best friend was shot and dead."
K.S. referred to the aforementioned victim as her soul sister and described how difficult it was to watch her struggle with the after-effects of the shooting.
Early on in her statement, K.S. addressed Sharpe directly.
"How could you? How could you go into our school and decide to kill people? Excuse me, not people. Kids. I know people can be cruel, but there is always a way out. Always. But you took the worst way you could possibly take," she wrote in her statement. "You tried to rip apart our Freeman family, but you didn’t. You didn’t. To be honest, I think that you are truly an awful person. I hope that every single day you think about what you’ve done."
Here are some of the statements shared on the first day:
"I am constantly suspicious of people and my students, and I think I am the worst teacher for it. I can not trust my students as I did before. I regularly think is this it? Is it going to happen again? Is it him, or her?"
"That day altered who I am as a teacher. For months afterward, when I arrived at school, I had to work up the courage to enter the school building."