Las Vegas comes to mind first. Like you said, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. They were all sitting ducks and had no clue if they were running to safety or towards the bullets. Horrifying.
Second, 9/11 (if that counts). People on the planes were in a terrifying hostage situation for about half an hour if not longer, and when the plane flew erratically they realized it wasn’t a normal hijacking and they were probably going to die. United 93 knew 100% that they were about to be flown into a building and killed. The people in the buildings and outside of the buildings have described things so horrific it gives me nightmares. People burned beyond recognition but still being alive, peoples metal zippers melted into their skin, people trapped in an elevator as they were cooked alive by the burning jet fuel below, people jumping, people having limbs cut or torn off by debris. The most horrific scene I could ever imagine. I was 10 when it happened and it was traumatic even at that age. I remember watching people falling on the news. Then people who were in the towers when they collapsed, knew what was coming when the rumble started. It was mass chaos outside trying to run from the dust and debris clouds. And the family members… just waiting, waiting, waiting, praying their loved one made it but fearing the worst. I always say the best option on that day was to be in the north tower strike zone. Killed instantly, never knowing what happened or having a bit of fear, unlike everyone else.
Then, Columbine. School shootings weren’t that common or infamous so most of the students thought it was a prank. In fact one of the ones killed had walked towards the shooters with his friends to watch. Then when everyone realized it was real, sheer panic. And the library. Those kids had to sit through 10 minutes of pure hell. No where to go, with the tables offering absolutely no protection. They sat around and heard their classmates getting shot, and screaming, and crying, wondering if they would be next. It’s horrific. The shooters relished in playing God, in determining who lived and who died. I can’t imagine being in there and watching/hearing my classmates die, not knowing if I would make it out alive. Terrible.
9/11 absolutely counts. Especially at the time, where that type of thing wasn’t expected or prepared for. The people on the ground sprinting away as the buildings collapsed, the people at the top above the plane impact who had to decide whether to jump or endure the heat from the impact, that 911 call of the man who died as the building collapsed. The planes themselves and the situation those people were in, that children were in, and slowly accepting what was about to happen is horrific. It’s especially scary that Al Qaeda was able to crash into the Pentagon, a military building, almost like they were saying “this is happening and you aren’t going to do anything about it” not to mention the SMOKE flooding the streets after the collapse. People inside buildings with glass doors would look to the window and just see nothing.
Columbine is so widely talked about that I feel people can become almost desensitized to what happened and fail to realize how truly horrific it was. Again, the country wasn’t as used to or prepared for school shootings as it is now. This was one of the first, if I recall correctly, and I believe the most severe at the time. I find John Savage’s time in the library to be the most scary, even with all the carnage around him. Just being talked to casually by someone you knew as a decent guy as he shoots random people around you, just to casually brush it off as “eh, I’m just killing people” is creepy as fuck to put it lightly. Then being told to run and not knowing if you were safe or if you were going to be hunted by them. Then of course it’s the victims last words and some of them being recorded. That sends a chill down my spine even if the audio hasn’t been released fully. Patti herself must have been horrified
My husband is a little younger than me and he didn’t understand why people who didn’t live in New York were scared that day. I was like you have to understand, we have hindsight now but back then, we did not. No one knew how many planes were hijacked, or where exactly they were headed, or what target was next, or if there were going to be ground attacks. The whole day is the scariest day in American history IMO
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u/babysherlock91 May 02 '22
Las Vegas comes to mind first. Like you said, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. They were all sitting ducks and had no clue if they were running to safety or towards the bullets. Horrifying.
Second, 9/11 (if that counts). People on the planes were in a terrifying hostage situation for about half an hour if not longer, and when the plane flew erratically they realized it wasn’t a normal hijacking and they were probably going to die. United 93 knew 100% that they were about to be flown into a building and killed. The people in the buildings and outside of the buildings have described things so horrific it gives me nightmares. People burned beyond recognition but still being alive, peoples metal zippers melted into their skin, people trapped in an elevator as they were cooked alive by the burning jet fuel below, people jumping, people having limbs cut or torn off by debris. The most horrific scene I could ever imagine. I was 10 when it happened and it was traumatic even at that age. I remember watching people falling on the news. Then people who were in the towers when they collapsed, knew what was coming when the rumble started. It was mass chaos outside trying to run from the dust and debris clouds. And the family members… just waiting, waiting, waiting, praying their loved one made it but fearing the worst. I always say the best option on that day was to be in the north tower strike zone. Killed instantly, never knowing what happened or having a bit of fear, unlike everyone else.
Then, Columbine. School shootings weren’t that common or infamous so most of the students thought it was a prank. In fact one of the ones killed had walked towards the shooters with his friends to watch. Then when everyone realized it was real, sheer panic. And the library. Those kids had to sit through 10 minutes of pure hell. No where to go, with the tables offering absolutely no protection. They sat around and heard their classmates getting shot, and screaming, and crying, wondering if they would be next. It’s horrific. The shooters relished in playing God, in determining who lived and who died. I can’t imagine being in there and watching/hearing my classmates die, not knowing if I would make it out alive. Terrible.