ARARAT, Va. — It was a weekend of violence and heartbreak.
Now, two communities including El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio are trying to make sense of two horrific shootings that killed 32 people.
For those who've survived previous mass shootings, it can be traumatizing as they relive their grief and terror each time it happens. Melissa Wall is one of those survivors. She attended the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, and on the night of October 1, 2017, she ducked for cover and ran for her life, as bullets flew through the air. Fifty-eight people were killed, and hundreds were injured.
Hundred of miles away from El Paso and Dayton, Wall says, she can feel the fear and sense the panic, brought about by a mass shooting.
"You don't know what to do. Do you hide? Do you run? Do you lay down? You don't have a clue," she said.
"I truly thought that I was going to die. Absolutely 100-percent. Never did I think that I was going to make it out of there."
Pictures and reminders of that life-changing event now hang on the wall of her Ararat, Virginia home. She made it out alive, but Wall says, her mindset changed, for better and for worse.
"I am more cautious, I try and develop an exit plan before I get somewhere, and I don't really sit with my back to the door. I notice people, different behaviors, and I go with my gut instincts," Wall explained.
"For me personally, surviving something like that, I'm definitely not perfect but I try to think about, 'What if this is the last moment I see someone?'"
Although each shooting triggers the terrifying memories of her own experience, Wall says, the most important thing is to not let fear win. She's using her story to be a force for change.
"Life is short, life is precious, and we are not guaranteed tomorrow or the next second," she said.
"It's got to be important to all of us as Americans. It's our right to vote, to have a voice and to come together and until every single person does that, maybe nothing will change. But why do we not want to change it?"
Wall was able to go back to Vegas, last fall. She said, it was a difficult trip, but one she needed to take to honor the 58 lives lost in 2017.