SPOKANE, Wash. — Monday will mark the fourth day of Freeman victim impact statements prior to Caleb Sharpe's sentencing.
The shooter has plead guilty to first-degree murder charges five years after killing one student and injuring three others. Members of the Freeman High School community have been sharing their thoughts and struggles in the years following the tragedy.
The past three days of victim statements have asked the judge to give the shooter the maximum sentence, with many of them ending with the phrase "Freeman Strong."
Caleb Sharpe was present in the courtroom for these statements, as teachers, students and parents in the Freeman community expressed their grief, anger and traumas.
"My son, who was in second grade at that time, had nightmares for months about a school shooter coming into the elementary school and finding him."
"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."
"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?"
These are only a fraction of the various statements made over the course of three days.
A date has yet to be scheduled for the shooter's sentencing.