A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
Wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a Mother and Daughter questioning “Are we even related?”
A Boomer and GenXer Walk into a Bar
A Parent's Nightmare Part 1: "I screamed at her to run" S1:E7
Imagine receiving a frantic phone call from your child, screaming about an active shooter in their school. That's the heart-stopping reality and a moment none of us can imagine. In this emotionally intense episode, we confront the chaos and fear that enveloped the family, as Bobbi desperately tried to ensure the safety of her children amidst an unimaginable event. Her story shines a light on the raw, immediate reactions of a family thrust into one of the most terrifying scenarios a parent can experience.
Sources: KCCI, WHAS11
email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com
Today's episode comes with something we've not done before a trigger warning, because today we are going to address the proverbial elephant in the room. So if you have young kids, please listen with caution or have them leave the room, because today's episode will talk about injury, death, mental health, suicide and school shootings. So please listen at your own discretion and if this is one episode you just don't want to or can't listen to, we completely understand. We still love you all.
Speaker 2:Welcome everyone to today's show. A boomer and Gen X are walking to a bar, coming to you from the rabbit hole studio, where you, as our listener, will experience some wit and wisdom, some smart assery and a mother and daughter questioning. Are we even related? My name is Jane, my co-host is my daughter, bobby, and for the next several minutes we're going to talk about a very serious issue today, and we are hopeful that you all stay tuned. This may run into part one, part two, but it's something that we absolutely need to talk about and I'm going to turn it over to you, bobby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it may be a long episode. It may be, you know, two parts, but we're going to do our best to keep it together. There may be some times we need to step back and collect ourselves and move on, and there may be some strong language today. So just a warning, so let's get down to it. Okay, mom, today we are going to tell our audience who we are and why that is so important for people to know.
Speaker 2:And we did talk a little bit in a previous episode a little bit about who we are, but I don't think there's a lot of people who know what we experienced this year and so a lot of our friends who are listening in they knew we had a lot of people who supported us through this and we just want all of our newer listeners and people who did not know what happened this year to understand where we're coming from and what our perspectives are.
Speaker 1:We're going to make them part of our circle today.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. So hang with us here, folks, and I will tell you this is going to be a tough one for us to get through, and I know that just from my own perspective.
Speaker 1:So, bobby, I dropped my older two children, my older daughter and my son, off at school for the first day back after their winter break. Four minutes later, I got a phone call that no parent wants to receive and my world stopped. I was sitting at the elementary school with my youngest daughter, we were getting ready to get her out of the car, get her into school for the day, and my phone rang. It was my older daughter calling me on Snapchat, and the reason that she was calling me on Snapchat that I found out later was because the phone lines were basically jammed at that point. But it wasn't unusual. My kids call me on Snapchat all the time. But what was unusual is, when I picked up the phone, all I could hear was her screaming and what sounded like gunshots in the background. After a few seconds I could finally decipher what she was screaming and she was screaming Mom, there's a shooter in the school. Help. I can't find Corey Units.
Speaker 1:We've got an active shooter situation at Perry High School 6-12 this morning and community members in Perry, Iowa, are waking up to the aftermath of yet another school shooting. Corey is my son and they were in their lunchroom together that morning to get breakfast, like a lot of the other kids were I. The only thing I could do was I screamed at her to run. That's the only thing that came out of my mouth at that point. Before my mind could even really wrap around what she said, my body reacted. My youngest was still strapped in the back seat, in the seatbelt, and she was hearing all of this on speakerphone. I just hear a recognition at Perry High School. It's going to be in reference to a possible gunshot possible gunshots at Perry High School.
Speaker 1:Sorry, can't wait. Dallas 1 Direct. Do you have access to the cameras? We're getting pulled up now? We got somebody down in the hallway. Copy.
Speaker 1:We see something on the west top hallway, west hallway. She started bawling her eyes out as I threw my Jeep into gear and I left. That parking lot that was just nine blocks away from where my older kids were was just nine blocks away from where my older kids were. I peeled out of there at speeds that you know. I didn't think that my old Jeep would go at that point and I raced down our quiet streets of our small town and then my phone beeped. It was my son. He was trying to call me on the other line. I hit the accept button but nothing. It just kept saying trying to connect, trying to connect.
Speaker 1:And so I got back on with my older daughter and I screamed at her to keep running. I said you keep running, you keep running and I will find you. So I put her back on a three-way call to try to call my son back, because I was really praying that it was that call saying mom, this happened, I'm outside the school, I'm okay, just like my daughter had called. But there was no answer. And at that point chaos ensued. My older daughter, hearing that her brother wasn't picking up, she said that she needed to go back in that school and find him. She said that she couldn't find him, she couldn't see him, and I told her absolutely not, not. I said you just keep running, keep running. And I heard her screaming to the group of kids that was with her to keep running. Because she said some of the kids are stopping. And I said no, keep running. And that's all she just kept saying to those kids was keep running and now, bobby, you're my granddaughter.
Speaker 2:She ran towards the armory that's correct, joey.
Speaker 1:She ran out of well. Actually she made it into one of the classrooms next to the lunchroom. There was a teacher in there. Her and a group of students made it in there. The teacher realized that the shooting was still going on, so he opened up the back door of the classroom and he told the kids to run, to run as fast as they could to get out of there and she ran straight for the armory yes, the national guard armory sure I would have thought that quickly, um in this, quickly, in this entire situation.
Speaker 2:But God love her for having that foresight to say, hey, there's an armory behind us, that's where I'm headed.
Speaker 1:And it was about a half a block away. But they did have to go around the fences, around the school, through the parking lots, so it was quite a run for all of them. So it was, it was quite a run for all of them. So once you told her to keep running and I was on my way, I was on.
Speaker 1:I and you live, uh what, eight blocks at that point I was at the elementary school, which is nine blocks from the, the high school and middle school combined okay um, and the whole time I'm on my way there, I'm flooring it through the streets, and as soon as I got near the school, I saw in the distance a good friend of mine was standing at the end of the driveway to the parking lot to the school, waving parents on saying no, run, run. And he was telling them, um, in english and in spanish, because we have a very large hispanic community um, and he was telling them what was going on there's a shooter, get your kids away, go, go, go and the. Unfortunately, it was the time where everybody was dropping their kids off. It was just a few minutes before school was set to begin and there was a long line of cars.
Speaker 2:I mean, the cars were at least a block deep by the time I got up there, and even at that point a lot of people still did not know what was going on.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:They had absolutely no idea, not know what was going on. No, they had absolutely no idea. They just saw kids running and people yelling, but really had no idea what was going on.
Speaker 1:Still at that point right and and at this point I mean the backup of cars, you know, was at least a block um. And so I I didn't really think I threw my Jeep into four wheel drive and I drove through the football practice field, that's right next to the football stadium, which is across the street from the school, because I was, you know, backed up behind those cars and I told you know, I I drove up to the school. I actually cut across the road in front of a bunch of cars, ended up in the ditch in front of the school, and I told my youngest, I said get down on the floor. I said you don't move, you don't get up until you see me. And she did that. She got on the floor of the Jeep and I opened that door, slammed it shut and it was off to the races to those front doors and let's talk real quick about uh, because she's not my youngest granddaughter, but she's my second to the youngest and how old is she?
Speaker 2:at the time, she was eight, and so to not only hear what was going on for this eight-year-old child yeah and I apologize, folks, but this is very raw to us and it's very difficult for us.
Speaker 2:So hang with us here, but for an eight-year-old child to hear this, be told to get on the floor and stay there, and she did, she, and she did, she did, she did exactly what you had told her to do. That in and of itself is quite, you know, a miracle that she stayed there and didn't come running after you.
Speaker 1:Well, she trusted me in that moment. She trusted me that what I was telling her to do was what she needed to do. And in that moment she knew, she absolutely knew, and she did. She got right on the floor of the Jeep and, like I said, I jumped out, I slammed the door behind me and I raced towards the front doors. Um, you know, because, as I can't speak for any other mother or parent out there but my first thought was I have to find my son. And at that point there were no cops there. No one was there to help.
Speaker 1:Um, and they didn't arrive until after I was out of my deep and running for that school and I, I didn't care, I didn't care, I didn't care that there was still an active shooter in that building, I didn't care that I could walk in and walk face to face in, you know, right into him. My only thought was I can't find my son. And I had that gut feeling, right. And you know, as I ran up, they were. They were pulling a student out the front doors and it was. It was very graphic, she was covered in blood. But I looked down just long enough to know that that wasn't my son. And I kept running because I was going to get in that school one way or the other. I was going to find my son.
Speaker 1:And as soon as I hit those front doors, I heard my friend who was directing traffic, who was putting himself in danger to get parents and children away from the scene. He started screaming at me. He was like Bobby, bobby, your son, your son, they found your son, bobby, they found your son. And I literally was almost touching that front door and I turned around just in time to see two grown men carrying my 15-year-old son, my 6'5" 15-year-old son, my 6'5" 15-year-old son out of the football stadium, carrying him towards the ambulance that had just pulled up. We're going to need multiple ambulances, so we're going to need both other EMS units headed that way as well.
Speaker 2:And so you know those of you who don't know we live in Iowa, so this shooting occurred in Iowa and this occurred at the Perry School.
Speaker 1:Yep the Perry High School lunchroom.
Speaker 2:And it was really when the kids were starting to congregate right for breakfast.
Speaker 1:Yes, so the high school lunchroom actually houses both the middle and high school kids for breakfast.
Speaker 2:And so a lot of kids coming in very quickly.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so they're carrying Corey up to the school, because they basically found him on the other side of the parking lot.
Speaker 1:Well, it's about it's actually almost an entire football field away from the front door. So from the front door to where he was found inside the stadium was almost an entire length of a football field so when you, when they found him, bobby, and you arrived to see him, what did?
Speaker 2:what went through your mind right then?
Speaker 1:It's hard to say. They were headed towards the ambulance and he was absolutely ghost white. I could see that he was holding his head up. I could see that his arm was bent at a funny angle. I could see that he was covered in blood.
Speaker 2:So at that point you knew he had been shot.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:You just didn't know the extent. And so they put him in the ambulance and I can probably take it from here, because this is where I think I come in, is it?
Speaker 1:No, not yet actually. So they got him in the ambulance at the same time. I'm sorry to keep sniffing on you and into the microphone.
Speaker 2:You just have to understand that I'm not sure this will ever not be emotional for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they were taking him. There was one ambulance there at that point and they were simultaneously putting my son in the ambulance and the little girl that they had drug out the front door. So at that moment I jumped back in the Jeep and I told my youngest daughter get up. It's me buckle back up. And we drove through the empty parking lots in the fields to go find my daughter, my oldest daughter or my older daughter.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, cars are backed up, there's nowhere on the roads to drive and thank god I had my jeep because I immediately went and I found my older daughter. Immediately she jumped in the car I don't think I even stopped the car fully for her to jump in and we turned around in the ditch near the armory and went right back through those fields and over parking barriers and I think I hit a couple of the handicap pole signs I know I took a couple of those out and I parked in the parking lot next to the stadium and, um, I basically what I did is I threw the keys at her and I said you need to call your yaya and tell her where you are. Your brother needs me.
Speaker 2:And just so everybody knows I am the yaya.
Speaker 1:Yes, are your grandma yeah, yeah yep, and at that time I left them in the car, knowing that they were a good, safe distance away. There was more cops pulling up and I just ran back to the ambulance so at that point I think joey tried to contact me.
Speaker 2:I think your daughter tried to contact me. I will be honest with you, maybe she didn't. I don't remember that call. Yeah, because your call came in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm going to give it to you from my perspective now, because we were at home.
Speaker 1:And I don't remember this phone call.
Speaker 2:I will say that and bobby contacted me and she said I need you right now. And I said what's going on? Because there's a lot of times and we've joked about this in previous calls and I let calls run through. You know I don't pick them up or I say, hey, I'll call you back and I do that right in your lifetime, but maybe not right away, and so I'm notorious for that.
Speaker 2:But that call came in very early in the morning and your very first words were I need you and I need you now. And I said what's going on? And you said Corey's been shot. And I said where do you need me? And, uh, you know my better half was here also um, we call him Dr Domain, uh, because he takes care of all of our technical stuff here and he was with me. And you said I need you to come get joey and sydney, sydney, yep. And so, uh, I was getting ready to do that. You called back again and you said he's headed to des moines, to the hospital, and I said so he was shot. And you said Mom, he was shot a lot. And I said what? And you said at least three times. And at that point we knew absolutely nothing, right.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So Joey and Sidney were picked up by dr domain and he brought him back here to my house and, uh, what do you do? You know what do you do? He was at a loss too right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the kids were at a loss and and in between that I mean so much happened from the time I first called you. It was absolute chaos I can't even describe it.
Speaker 2:I don't think you remember even half of what went down.
Speaker 1:I remember being in the ambulance. I remember that. I remember that they kept calling for more paramedics and no one was anywhere near Right. I remember I jumped in the ambulance and I saw the little girl laying there and I looked at cory and I said do you know who she is? And this little girl had taken had, had been shot in the head multiple times. You, you couldn't recognize her. You couldn't see anything but the color of her hair and what she was wearing. And he goes, mom, he goes. I just know her first name. I don't know who she is. And I said okay, and I stayed in that ambulance. I cut my son's clothes off, looking for more bullet wounds, and I assisted the medics at that point, not only with the gear that they needed but with handling the radio, because there was two of them and we had so many wounded at that point.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And they were just waiting for backup and they said can you help? And I said what do you need? Right, and so I did. I cut my son's clothes off. I checked to make sure that there were no bullet holes in his chest. I checked to make sure that there were no bullet holes near any of his arteries, because my first thought was my son's going to bleed out sitting in this ambulance because there's nobody here to help.
Speaker 2:Right, and you can't get out because of trying to move vehicles right, right, and so you ended up going down to Des Moines, which is the biggest city here. The closest the closest with the best trauma center. And you know, at that point we knew nothing other than the shooting occurred. We didn't know if somebody was targeted. We didn't know if somebody was targeted, we didn't know if, who all was injured. We only knew what we knew with the people that were near you that's it we didn't know anything else um.
Speaker 2:So you know, when you called me, of course dr domain went and got your kids yeah and took them.
Speaker 2:Where do you go? He took them to church. He took them to the church and they sat down and they prayed, and anybody who knows me knows that, uh, I have a very, very strong faith in God and, um, thank you God, that's, that's. The only thing I can say is thank you God. So I headed to Des Moines and this is absolutely no exaggeration. I bet I saw at least 50 to 60 police cars, ambulances, everything. They were coming towards Perry. I was going away from Perry, which means I knew no one was chasing me. So I'm doing 110 miles an hour.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:And uh, and I was ahead of you on the highway, but I was.
Speaker 1:I mean I. I don't think that Jeep was meant to go that fast.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell you that right now.
Speaker 1:I don't know how I didn't get killed or kill somebody else at that point, but I did not slow down. And let me tell you the ambulance driver for Corey you know they were waiting for another life flight which was out of Iowa City. So we were going to be waiting an hour for this chopper to get here. And his ambulance driver looked at me and he goes, I can get in there faster. And I said go and that was the only words I said. I jumped out of the ambulance. I said go and so you know we took off and I was. I looked down, I was doing 108 miles an hour on the highway. He blew by me like I was standing still. So I knew he was going to keep his promise that he was going to get my son to that hospital faster than anything.
Speaker 2:So you know, this has been tough for you and I to talk through this part, because we haven't done this before. Right, we have internalized, we did talk you know enough on social media to ask people for prayers and ask them for help, and we'll get into that a little bit more a little bit later, but right now I just have to say I appreciate the fact that we have this opportunity to let you guys know who we are, and we've got a lot more to say about this and we're going to come back at it with the second part. Is that all right, bobby?
Speaker 2:absolutely, and because I want you to know what's going on with cory today yes and I want you to know, uh, what's been done, what hasn't been done, where we're at with this and it is an emotional roller coaster and again, every time I even somebody brings him up and says, how is he? I start crying. It's such a loaded question. It's a loaded question and we'll talk about that too. But I will say this One of the things we had elected to do was not spread hate, and when this whole thing happened, we said we are not spreading hate. Uh, we are going to be very positive through this. Uh, we're thanking god and we're thanking our friends and we're thanking everybody that came to his rescue and Joey's rescue and the other kids, and so we're going to talk about this again on part two. Yes, and thank you for listening to my emotional self and also my sniffing into the microphones there will be more of that.
Speaker 2:We knew this would be a tough one for us today and the next one's going to be very tough for us too. So we just ask that you please hang with us. You'll know a little bit more about us. You'll probably know a lot more about us by the time this whole thing is done. So I think that's probably it for today, because we've run out of time. Please, please, listen to part two. I want you to know where our grandkids are now my grandkids are are now and Bobby's kids and how we're doing, and we think you're interested. We just want to share. So if you have any comments, please feel free to drop us a line. Otherwise we'll be back with part two and we'll give you more information on where you can drop that line to. Thanks for listening today. Folks, I'm Jane Burt and I'm Bobby Joy, and you're stuck with us Peace out Later.