News

School shooting comes home

By Scott Wagar

12/17/2013

For one Bottineau High School graduate and his wife Friday was the scariest day in their lives because they had a son in the Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo, during the school shooting there. The incident sent the family into fear, worry, tears and prayers over the safety of their son and the other students in the school. However, the family’s prayers were answered and their son came out of the incident safe from harm.

For Ric Gocio, a 1982 graduate of Bottineau High School, and his wife Dawn, Friday became an absolute despairing day for them when their son, Cody, was caught inside  Arapahoe High School when the shooting took place.

“Our initial thoughts were ‘that’s our son’s school,’” Ric Gocio said. “And, we were scared to death.”

Ric Gocio was at his place of employment on Friday afternoon when he was informed about the shooting.

“I was on a job site in Castle Rock, Colo., 20 miles away,” Ric Gocio said. “I was sitting in our shop truck with a co-worker waiting for another person to arrive to the job site and my co-worker was looking on his phone and said there was a shooting at Arapahoe High School.

“I then became numb with fear,” Gocio added. “I started to pace around telling other guys this was Cody’s school. I then texted him and called him, too, but there was no answer. This was at 1:07 p.m. and Cody was a half-hour into the ordeal already.”

Gocio’s next call was to his wife, Dawn.

“I was at home when this incident occurred talking with my older son, Beau and his girlfriend, when ambulances, fire engines and police cars started flying by. There were probably 20 of them within two minutes. We were all baffled by the amount,” Dawn Gocio said. “After that, Ric called and asked if I had heard from Cody and I said, ‘No, why?’ To which he said, there had been a shooting at school and two were injured.

“My thoughts turned to Cody and I feared for him and the entire high school’s safety. I immediately texted Cody and asked him to ‘Please, please tell me you are okay!’ When he didn’t text me back, I went to call him and saw on the news the scene was still active and my calling his cell phone could potentially put him and his classmates in grave danger.  So, I put my phone down,” Dawn Gocio continued to state.

“Beau grabbed his keys and ran out the door telling me to stay and that he was going to go get Cody and he would call me when he had him. I was in a panic and approximately 20 minutes later, Cody called from a friends phone and said he was okay and at the grocery store across the street. 

“I have never been more relieved, thankful or terrified in my life. I just kept thanking God,” Dawn Gocio added. “Within minutes, Ric was home and we took off as fast as we could to get Cody.”

When the Gocios arrived at the scene, they couldn’t get near the school or grocery store Cody had called from. However, they were soon told that the students had been moved to a church.

“We ran,” Dawn Gocio said. “There were parents standing in line everywhere with looks of pure horror, shock and concern on their faces. As we approached the front of the line, our older son and his girlfriend came out of the church with Cody.

“When I first saw Cody the look on his face was just unexplainable. He looked like he had been through a war zone, he looked dazed,” Dawn Gocio said. “When I ran to him and held him, he was shaking and all I could do was hold on to him and cry in relief and thank God for sparing my youngest child, one of the biggest parts of my heart.”

After Dawn greeted her son, it was Ric’s turn.

“When Dawn let go, I hugged him, kissed his cheek and said love you son” Ric Gocio said. “And then, I held him for a good long time.”

Cody had every right to feel dazed. At the time of the shooting he had just sat down in his algebra class when the shooting started.

“My thoughts when the shooting begun was of two girls that I had seen out of the window of the classroom before it had all began. I was very worried about them and where they were,” Cody Gocio said. “These thoughts of course were running alongside the thoughts of hiding and following lock down procedures. Even though a lock down was not yet called, but it was shortly confirmed by one of the administrators announcing over the intercom that it was a lock down.”

With the lock down in place, Cody and his classmates were locked into their classroom with the lights turned off in hopes if the shooter came he would think the classroom was empty.

“During that time in the classroom there were moments when we would all jump because we thought that we had heard something outside,” Cody Gocio said. “I also had a friend sitting next to me on the floor who was so worried about a sibling of hers that was in the school as well. As I tried to comfort her and talk her through the event other students were holding each other, some were crying and some were just watching the door.”

As the students waited in fear, law enforcement came into the building to secure it. After some time, the police came to the door of Cody’s classroom  and identified themselves, but the students and their teacher refused to answer the door at first because they worried it might be a trick of the shooter to get them to open the door.

“Once they (law enforcement) got to our door they began to say ‘come on kids lets go’ and ‘it’s okay it’s the police,’ but none of us believed they were who they said they were and neither did our teacher. So, after they said that a few times and shined their lights in the room looking for us my teacher finally looked to confirm that it was the police,” Cody Gocio said.

“My teacher quickly opened the door and we all began to run to the door. Once we got out of the class room, rescue had created a path for us and they directed us to the nearest exit where we continued to run across the street and soon to the church that was further down.”

Unknown to Cody as he sat down for his afternoon class was that at 12:33 p.m., Karl Pierson, 18, walked into the school.

At a quick pace of only 80 seconds, Pierson shot the gun randomly down a hallway, then entered into an area where 17-year-old Claire Esther was and shot her point blank in the face.

He then fired-off anther shot down a hallway and made his way into the school’s library where Pierson discharged his weapon two more times and discharged a Molotov cocktail, which started library shelves on fire. As smoked filled the library, the teenage shooter made his way to the back of the library where he took his own life.

Cody did not know Esther or Pierson, but has friends who know them.

“I have many friends that are greatly affected by their (the wounded) pain,” Cody Gocio said. “I did not know the shooter personally. My friends who knew him tell me that he was a fairly normal teenage male. He was also very intelligent and would often at times prove his intelligence to others in whatever way he could.”

With the incident over, for Cody the incident will not be over for quite sometime, if ever.

“I feel sickened by what has happened to both of the wounded and the shooter Karl,” Cody Gocio said. “This never should have happened and it hurts us all so much that it did. A thought that has personally been running through my mind is the sound of the shots and knowing that my fellow warriors (students) were in harms way and that I could have been hearing a life being ended.”
For going back to school, Cody says he has mixed emotions.

“I am nervous, however excited,” he said about going back to school. “If there is anything I have noticed since the event is that I feel a lot better being with my fellow classmates. I know that we are only stronger because of this event.”

For Ric and Dawn and their feelings on the incident, they are standing strong, but know the community of Arapahoe High School will need time and special blessings.

“I just want to say we are Warrior Strong and will not allow this incident to be the legacy of Arapahoe High School,” Dawn Gocio said. “But, the students are emotionally fragile at this time and need and deserve kindness, love and patience as they cope with this tragedy so they may begin the long process of healing.”