Teyonna Lofton, Shooting Survivor and Activist on Gun Violence in the US

The Takeaway

English - February 15, 2022 04:00 - 8.15 MB - ★★★★ - 708 ratings
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The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida prompted our nation to discuss gun violence in schools, but the overwhelming reality is that all over the country a majority of lives lost and forever changed by gun violence happen on a daily occurrence, barely garnering headlines.

Teyonna Lofton was an 18 year old, beaming high school graduate when she had just been honored by friends and family with a car parade. As she waited at a gas station to buy a soft drink, shots rang out, and she fell hard, praying that she wouldn't die.

We spoke with Lofton, now a 20 year-old Sophomore at the University of New Orleans about the day she was shot, her story of survival, and the ongoing crisis of gun violence in the U.S.

Teyonna Lofton, 18, shows the scars while sitting outside her home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood in Chicago, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, from surgeries to graft a vein from her leg.
(David Goldman/AP Photo)