OLYMPIA – Earlier this week, the mother of Freeman High School shooting victim Sam Strahan, headed to Olympia to speak in favor of a bill that would impose regulations on high-capacity magazines.
“On September 13 [2017], I said goodbye to my son Sam. I told him I loved him and I headed to work. That was the last time I saw my son alive,” Ami Strahan said while testifying on Monday, January 20.
Strahan was one of several citizens from across the state to speak in favor of Senate Bill 6077 aims to prevent the manufacturing, distribution, importation, transferring, selling, purchasing or possession of high-capacity magazines, except for law enforcement officers and people who already own such magazines.
“I am here because I am a grieving mother,” Strahan said. “My son was 15 years old. This is his senior year. I am still struggling to recover.”
Admitted shooter, Caleb Sharpe, told detectives an assault rifle he brought to Freeman High School on September 13, 2017, jammed as he tried to load rounds into it. Ami Strahan says had the gun not jammed, he would have killed many more people. She feels that the gun should never have been accessible to him in the first place, and believes this bill would have helped.
According to court documents, Sharpe pulled out a handgun when approached by Sam Strahan and shot him twice, killing him. Sharpe then continued firing into the crowd of students, hitting three others before the handgun also jammed. Sharpe was eventually confronted by a custodian and complied with his commands to get on the ground.
Sharpe has since been charged with one count of premeditated, first-degree murder, three counts of premeditated, attempted first-degree murder and 51 counts of second-degree assault. He remains in custody awaiting trial.
