"The Story Behind these Hands: Finding Their Way Out"
From "Finding Their Way Out," in the York Daily Record, 2013 Dart Award Honorable Mention
In 2011, two people who had experienced the Red Lion school shooting eight years earlier independently approached the York Daily Record/Sunday News and said they wanted to talk about what happened, how they had coped and the effect they believed the shooting had on the Red Lion community.
They said others would want to help tell the story of the shooting's aftermath.
That's where this story began. Reporter Bill Landauer created a list of members from the Class of 2007 and started calling and visiting them. Visual journalist Jason Plotkin joined him. Instead of focusing on the events of that day, Landauer and Plotkin wanted to talk to people about their lives since then. Those stories could show others who were struggling that they are not alone.
Red Lion Area School Supt. Scott Deisley told school staff they could talk to us, if they wished, and he allowed us to photograph students at the school. Some people we talked to said they understood and even supported the idea of the newspaper doing this story, but they didn't want to participate. Others questioned what good a newspaper story would do and declined to talk. Some objected to the paper writing about the shooting again.
Others, including Jimmy Sheets' parents and Eugene Segro's widow, Lynne, said they didn't want to talk. We respected their wishes.
Several people decided to tell their stories in depth.
In all, Landauer and Plotkin spoke with dozens of former students, as well as members of the Red Lion Area Junior High School staff, trauma experts and police.
This story is written from those interviews, information from York Daily Record/Sunday News archives, public records and online resources.
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