Columbine survivor on moments of shooting: 'I completely disassociated'
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On the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, one of the survivors, Austin Eubanks, described to Fox News how he handled the tragedy which left him wounded and his best friend dead.
"I completely disassociated," Eubanks told Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Saturday. "I've always been able to recall everything that happened that day but it was almost as if I was watching it on television. I wasn't present in my own body."
When the shooting happened, Eubanks said, he was on his way to lunch and talking with friends. "That was when the shooting started. Moments later, a teacher ran through those doors yelling for everybody to get under the tables."
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Eubanks was shot twice and afterwards, took medication that led to addiction during his twenties.
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"I was prescribed medications for my physical injuries and immediately, I became drawn to those medications because of how they improved the underlying symptoms of emotional pain," he said during his appearance on "Cavuto Live."
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He went on to help others resolve emotional pain they felt from undergoing traumas like his. As Cavuto noted, Columbine was just the beginning of a series of mass shootings that would affect American schools over the next two decades.
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"I tell people who are struggling, the most crucial piece of recovery is staying connected to other human beings for support because we are so prone to detachment and there is countless adversity that comes with that," he added.
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Eubanks' comments came just after an 18-year-old woman, who was "infatuated" with the shooting, threatened violence in the Denver area. By Wednesday, the woman, Sol Pais, had committed suicide and the FBI reported that there was "no longer a threat to the community."
When Cavuto asked Eubanks about Pais, Eubanks described Columbine as an event that captured public attention like the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11. "Everybody has an emotional attachment to Columbine and I think unfortunately, for those who are mentally deranged or unstable, it's created this fascination."