Thousands of miles away from her hometown of Las Vegas, Quinnipiac University professor Dr. Cindy Kern says her heart is breaking for the place she grew up in the aftermath of the deadliest shooting in American history.
Kern moved to Connecticut in 2013 and is the current Director for the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at QU. The venue for the country music festival is a place she’s been before and she was shocked when she heard about the carnage there.
“This is completely unimaginable until today,” she said. “We’ve all been to events there.”
One of her former students was at the concert and had to run for her life to escape the gunfire.
“They were right there at the stage. They happened to get over a fence, but they were being fired upon while they were trying to exit,” said Kern. That student was not hurt.
Dr. Kern doesn’t understand what could’ve led the alleged shooter to carry out this act. But his motives aside, she hopes this event will bring about a national conversation on violence and understanding one another.
“We have to have a broader conversation. We have to step out of our echo chambers and talk to the people who agree with us and we have to move toward having these tough conversations before we have tragedy like this.”
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And as for her hometown, Dr. Kern believes the city known for fun will survive and thrive despite this unspeakable tragedy. “Las Vegas is strong. This one person can’t stop us, can’t stop Las Vegas from moving forward,” she said.
Kern expects to talk to her students about this latest mass shooting during class time this week. She also hopes to talk to University leaders about having a “cross talk” or public discussion on campus about the issues of gun control, mental health and social justice.
