The day was September 15, 1999. A mere four months after the massacre at Columbine High School. It was a regular day for 17-year-old high school senior Amanda McKnight, a current Briarhill Middle School teacher, with one exception: today was the day that would change her life.

The day began with a “See You at the Pole” meeting in front of Wedgwood Baptist Church. Members of the church congregated around the building’s flagpole to pray. Afterwards, the day continued as usual.

McKnight went about her regular routine, going to school and looking forward to a youth rally that would be held at her church later that night. The event was a get-together complete with a band, skits and members from other churches coming to visit. The event started around 6:30 p.m., and everything seemed to be going fine. The festivities had only just started when 15 minutes in, the chaos began.

The attendees were singing worship songs when a sudden series of unexpected pops came from the back of the sanctuary. McKnight turned to look at the church’s door and through the windows saw an orange spark.

At first, McKnight did not realize what was happening. But then she noticed other members of the congregation ducking for cover beneath the pews. That’s when it hit her: there was an intruder in the church. An intruder with guns and homemade bombs. McKnight was caught in a shooting.

“My friend next to me…pulled me down and then we were under the pew…and then I figured out: ‘Oh my goodness, this is a gun,’” McKnight said.

The shooter’s name was Larry Jean Ashbrook. He was not affiliated with the church, nor did he live near it. The attack seemed to be random. Later, investigators would determine that he suffered from paranoid delusions. Ashbrook came to the church armed with two guns, a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and a .380 caliber handgun, as well as a few pipe bombs, which malfunctioned when they exploded vertically.

“We were very lucky because the pipe bombs misfired,” McKnight said. “Or they would have done a lot more damage.”

The shooting was about seven minutes long, with seven dead and seven more injured. The casualties ranged in age from 14 to 36.

At the end of the massacre, Ashbrook went to the back of the sanctuary and shot himself. McKnight and her friend took the opportunity to run and exit the church.

Although the shooting had ended, it was far from over for McKnight and the members of her community.

“Immediately afterwards, we all suffered post-traumatic stress disorder,” McKnight said. “The community came together…the church strengthened. The only thing we could rely on was God.”

The incident not only strengthened McKnight’s community and faith, but it also changed the way she thought about guns.

“I had never thought about gun control before the shooting,” McKnight said. “I had no reason to.”

One of the things that stuck with McKnight was how the shooter had come by his guns legally, instead of buying them unlicensed. Ashbrook had all the proper documentation for both of the guns used in the crime. Many people wanted to blame gun control for the shooting. McKnight said she thinks this view is not only wrong, but irrelevant.

“I think that some people maybe have something wrong with them that’s maybe just not documentable,” McKnight said. “They could seem a great person on the outside and one day just crack. Changing gun laws to make them stricter…that’s not going to fix the problem.”

McKnight observed several similarities between her experience and the shooting that occurred in Aurora, Colorado over the summer. Both perpetrators showed signs of mental illness beforehand, going so far as to wreck their apartments before committing the crime. Both shootings had taken place suddenly and without warning in places people considered safe.

“It was heartbreaking to see those people go through what we went through,” McKnight said.

The shooting has not only had an effect on McKnight, but on her former students, such as senior Alyssa Ross who says hearing McKnight’s experience changed the way she looked at shootings in the news.

“It does make it seem closer to home since someone I know was involved,” Ross said.

The shooting’s 13th anniversary was this year. Although she hasn’t forgotten the event, McKnight says things are better.

“I don’t want to say I’m over the shooting, but things have definitely changed,” McKnight said.