4 years later, Santa Fe librarian still trying to make sense of mass shooting at high school

SANTA FE, Texas (KTRK) -- It's been four years since a shooting at Santa Fe High School that killed 10 people.

But, when you drive around the city today, you'll find very few signs of the tragedy.

"You don't know how you're supposed to feel and it's hard to explain," said DeAnna Williamson, a computer specialist at the Mae Bruce Public Library. "It's extremely sad. It's sad that they're not here in this world."

Williamson had just arrived to work on that morning in 2018 when she heard the news.

"We still had patrons coming in, so we still had to do our job. But we kept hearing the information and we didn't know what to believe," she said. "Kimberly Vaughan, her family was a huge library family and they did a lot of 'Harry Potter' events here, and when we saw that Kimberly was unaccounted for, that was pretty shocking. And then, a patron came in and said they heard that Sabika Sheik was one of the victims."

Sheik, 17, was an exchange student who had been volunteering at the library.

"She told me the first day she came in, she wanted to do everything and try everything while she was here in America. She was a pretty special person. So, I just refused to believe she was one of the victims," Williamson said.

The accused shooter was also a regular at the library's after-school program. It's a detail Williamson is still trying to make sense of, even as she works to make students feel safe sharing their grief.

"This is a refuge for kids and I hope they have happy memories of coming here. We'll give them a place to hang out no matter how old they get," Williamson said. "We have to learn something from tragedies like this."

Four years later, most of those who were students at the time of the shooting have now graduated. But those graduates seem to keep coming back to Santa Fe.

"We have this extra attachment," said Santa Fe High School graduate Miranda Trigo. "Like, I didn't go away for college because I just feel like I needed to be here."

"I lost two of my good friends that day. Jared and I lost Chris," said graduate Andrew Girouard. "I still feel for their families and I still have not gotten over it and it has been four years."

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