Gene Rosen, a hero or a villain?

Simona Hentsa 

January 16th, 2013

                                           Gene Rosen, a Hero Or a Villain?

As many of you know, the Sandy Hook shooting was a tragedy that left our nation in shock. What you may have not heard of however, is what happened after the shooting. Victoria Soto, a courageous and brave teacher, sacrificed her life to save her students and help them escape the school during the shooting. As the kids ran away from the school, they stopped and sat at the end of a driveway, which is where Gene Rosen comes into the picture. The driveway belongs to Gene Rosen and he was shocked to see the kids “sitting in a neat semicircle”.  Rosen then took the four girls and two boys into his home and tried to keep them occupied with toys as he tried to reach their parents. Rosen swarmed the media the days following the massacre because he wanted to “speak about the bravery of the children” but many people began to feel that he was a fraud. Rosen is now receiving threatening emails and phone calls from people who believe that the shooting was staged by the government and that he is receiving money in return for getting involved. One email he received said “How are all those little students doing? You know the ones that showed up at your house after the ‘shooting’. What is the going rate for getting involved in a gov’t sponsored hoax anyway?” A post entitled “Grieving Town Grandfather or Bad Crisis Actor” accuses Rosen for repeatedly changing his story and claim that he is just a government puppet that seeks to move gun control laws. His focus on the kids, the guns, and the traumatizing things they witnessed that day is what makes these conspirators believe that he is only seeking the public’s sympathy to further the government’s apparent personal agenda. The debate is intense as well as emotional for Connecticut residents but this is an issue that will not be solved anytime soon. At the end of the day, aside from the specifics on who is being genuine or not, lives were taken and parents were left completely distraught. Finger pointing is not effective and takes away from our efforts to raise awareness on mental health and keep our schools and communities safe so a tragedy like this does not happen again.