The wife of a northwest Tennessee man killed in the Las Vegas shooting last October victim has set up a foundation in his name and is collecting donations for projects, including one to protect against school shootings.
Heather Gulish Melton is the wife of Sonny Melton. He was killed while shielding her from gunfire when a Stephen Paddock opened fire on concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival that killed 58 and injured another 557 on October 1.
Heather Gulish Melton said she decided after the shooting this month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, to raise funds to help protect local schools against active shooter situations.
“The best offense is a defense and that’s something we can do relatively quickly here as opposed to some of the laws that people are trying to get changed,” said Melton. “I don’t think that will happen very quickly and that won’t have a real dramatic change on protecting our students in schools.”
Melton said she’ll leave it up to school administrators and law enforcement to decide how to use the funds. She said she knows funding will be expensive but feels it is “money well spent.”
She noted that Big Sandy, the rural town where she lives, doesn't have a resource officer.
After the tragic events that took her husband’s life, Melton said she has a different perspective on school shootings. She said the heartache ‘never really goes away’ and is something survivors must learn to live with.
“I had heard it—the sound clip on TV of the gunfire—and I had a really visceral reaction to that. It just kind of took my breath away. I thought I’m still having a hard time processing what happened to me and I’m not so sure how these kids can process it themselves," Melton said.
You can learn more about the Sonny Melton “Living the Dream” Foundation here.
