The nation’s hope for a Thanksgiving reprieve is shattered by another tragic spate of gun violence

Because the nation’s psyche was shattered by one more mass capturing in Chesapeake, Virginia, the moments of terror recounted by Walmart worker Jessie Wilczewski – who survived a Tuesday night time assault that killed a minimum of six individuals – mirrored the place of hopelessness the place America as soon as once more finds itself in terms of gun violence.

“He had the gun as much as my brow,” Wilczewski advised CNN’s Erica Hill Wednesday night time on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” describing the second when she encountered the suspect, who was recognized by Walmart as an “in a single day staff lead” on the retailer. “He advised me to go dwelling.”

“I acquired up actual sluggish and I attempted not to take a look at anyone on the bottom,” Wilczewski mentioned. She made her method by way of the double doorways out to the egg aisle, gripping her bag and questioning if the suspect would shoot her within the again. She started working and didn’t cease till she reached her automotive.

This can be a yr when President Joe Biden and congressional lawmakers managed to forge bipartisan compromise on a bundle of gun security legal guidelines after years of inaction. States like Virginia and Colorado – the place a gunman opened fireplace and killed 5 individuals over the weekend at an LBGTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs – have handed sturdy gun measures meant to forestall these occasions from occurring. Lawmakers from each events have spent numerous hours on the marketing campaign path vowing to handle the nation’s psychological well being disaster. Issues have been alleged to be getting higher.

And but, the nation is once more making an attempt to return to phrases with one other mindless tragedy.

Wilczewski, who was in her fifth night time on the job at Walmart, discovered herself within the break room with a gunman questioning if she was going to make it out alive, after which – when she did – questioning why her life had been spared when so many different harmless ones weren’t. It’s a recurring query that People discover themselves asking every time a mass capturing happens.

“I don’t know why he let me go and, sure, it’s bothering me actually, actually unhealthy,” Wilczewski mentioned. “It doesn’t cease replaying whenever you depart the scene. It doesn’t cease hurting as a lot. It doesn’t cease.”

These are sentiments which have been expressed by numerous survivors of gun violence who’ve pressed lawmakers to do extra in recent times as mass shootings proceed unabated. People had seemed ahead to this Thanksgiving vacation as a reprieve on the finish of a troublesome yr buffeted by the repercussions of the pandemic and fears about layoffs and a possible recession. However on a vacation meant as a mirrored image of the nation’s blessings, the incidents in Virginia and Colorado Springs have plunged the nation again into what looks like an infinite debate over halt gun violence that by no means appears to yield an answer.

There have been a minimum of 609 mass shootings this yr – incidents the place greater than 4 individuals have been shot – in contrast with 638 shootings final yr at the moment and 690 shootings in 2021, based on the Gun Violence Archive.

Investigators are nonetheless making an attempt to unravel the motives for the incidents in Virginia and Colorado, however the inexplicable killings in Chesapeake got here lower than two weeks after a deadly capturing of three soccer gamers on the College of Virginia earlier this month. The string of incidents factors to the failure of current legal guidelines to cease the carnage, in addition to the deep disagreement between Democrats and Republicans about what further gun security measures are wanted.

The gulf between the 2 events was exemplified Wednesday by the diverging responses from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who’s being eyed as a possible 2024 White Home contender, and Biden, who has lengthy advocated for stricter gun measures.

Youngkin mentioned the hearts of Virginians have been damaged after “a horrendous mindless act of violence in Chesapeake” – calling it a “stunning stark actuality” with out delving into any element about gun coverage or how these occasions might be prevented.

“We’ve got had two horrific acts of violence within the commonwealth of Virginia in two weeks and that completely brings with it a way of anger, a way of concern, a way of deep, deep grief,” the Virginia governor mentioned.

Biden, against this, referred to as for “higher motion” on gun reform, following his name for reinstating an assault weapons ban after the Colorado Springs capturing – a proposal that has little likelihood of gaining traction in a divided Congress, with Republicans set to take over the Home in January.

Biden famous in an announcement that Thanksgiving is often a vacation that “brings us collectively as People and as households, after we hug our family members and rely our blessings. However due to one more horrific and mindless act of violence, there at the moment are much more tables throughout the nation that may have empty seats this Thanksgiving. There at the moment are extra households who know the worst form of loss and ache conceivable.”

“This yr, I signed probably the most important gun reform in a technology, however that isn’t almost sufficient. We should take higher motion,” Biden mentioned.

Charles Ramsey, a former Washington, DC, police chief and a CNN legislation enforcement analyst, famous that the police response instances in each the Chesapeake, Virginia, and the Colorado shootings have been very quick – the primary officer reached the scene inside two minutes on the Walmart, based on the Metropolis of Chesapeake. But police have been unable to cease the lack of life, together with the demise of a 16-year-old boy within the Walmart capturing who shouldn’t be being recognized as a result of he’s a minor.

“It’s going to occur once more; it’s not going to cease,” Ramsey mentioned on CNN’s “The Scenario Room” on Wednesday. “We’ll be speaking about one thing else subsequent week – I imply, if we simply have quick recollections, we don’t focus and we don’t take the steps we have to take as a society to cease it.”

Steve Moore, a retired FBI supervisory particular agent who’s a CNN legislation enforcement contributor, mentioned it could be more practical for lawmakers to focus their efforts on fixing the nation’s psychological well being issues, fairly than pursuing an assault weapons ban that has little likelihood of passage – partially as a result of there are already so lots of these weapons within the fingers of personal people.

“It’s form of late to shut the barn door,” Moore mentioned on CNN’s “Newsroom” on Wednesday. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t, however now we have to discover a technique to hold them out of the fingers of people that shouldn’t have them, and on this Colorado scenario, there was greater than sufficient – greater than sufficient proof to make use of a purple flag legislation to maintain weapons away from him.”

The portraits rising of each suspects have been these of troubled people whose habits raised questions for many who encountered them.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, the alleged Colorado gunman who was seen on video from a Colorado courtroom on Wednesday, was bullied as a youth and appeared to have had a troublesome relationship with their mom, who confronted a string of arrests and associated psychological well being evaluations, based on reporting from the CNN Investigates staff. The shooter identifies as non-binary and goes by the pronouns they and them, based on courtroom paperwork.

Aldrich’s mom referred to as police final yr to report that Aldrich had threatened to hurt her with bombs and different weapons – however no fees have been filed in that case, which was subsequently sealed.

Co-workers mentioned the gunman who opened fireplace at Walmart, who was recognized by the Metropolis of Chesapeake as 31-year-old Andre Bing, had displayed odd and threatening habits.

Briana Tyler, a Walmart worker, advised CNN’s Brian Todd that the gunman “simply had a clean stare on his face” through the capturing.

“He simply actually simply seemed across the room and simply shot and there have been individuals simply dropping to the ground,” Tyler mentioned. “All people was screaming, gasping. And yeah, he simply walked away after that and simply continued all through the shop and simply saved capturing.”

Bing was armed with a handgun and a number of other magazines, based on the town of Chesapeake, and died from what’s believed to have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound.