Cape valedictorian Lydia Cao recalls experience in wake of shooting at graduation ceremony

Cape Girardeau Central High School valedictorian Lydia Cao had just finished giving an address at her graduation ceremony May 19 at the Show Me Center when a loud bang rang out.

A gun shot.

Cao was standing on stage, along with graduating senior Annie McDougal, who was wrapping up her speech.

After the gunshot, chaos erupted, as people alarmed by the noise and sudden movements at the back of the arena, began to scramble toward the exits. Most of the seated graduates immediately dispersed and made their way to the exits or joined their family. Meanwhile, the school superintendent asked the audience to remain seated to see whether the noise was a popping balloon.

The Southeast Missourian caught up with Cao to get her perspective of the experience. The following is a text exchange a reporter had with the valedictorian:

Q: Before it happened, how were you feeling?

A: I was nervous, but also really excited. My speech was really vulnerable, so I was apprehensive how everybody would respond to it.

Q: When it happened, what crossed your mind and how did you feel?

A: It was really confusing. I had already finished my part of the speech, so I was just looking out at the crowd while Annie was finishing up. She was on the last line when the shot rang out. I immediately looked up to the top left corner and saw the doors close. It was so quick, I thought it was the sound of the doors closing. I had never heard a gunshot that close in proximity before, so I didn’t know. Everything seemed to pause for a long minute before the screaming and running began. People started running, and it was just chaos. I was confused the whole time and just following the guidance of the adults on stage.

Q: How stressful was the experience?

A: Since we were on stage, we had a very good vantage point of everything that happened. And what I saw was that there was no threat entering the arena, so I was not as scared as many of my classmates who had their backs to the situation. The teachers were also really helpful in de-escalating the situation and calming me down. I was able to sleep (that night), which I am very grateful for.

Q: Has this incident affected you a day removed from it?

A: Yes, I would say it has brought our community and school together as we cherished each other’s company in the aftermath. We were so fortunate that things didn’t escalate and the students weren’t targeted. It could’ve been so much worse.

Q: Did you have family and friends there? How did they react?

A: My whole immediate family was there, along with a lot of family friends. They were all scared and confused. My younger brother ran for his life and ended up hiding in a laundry room. My parents just kept an eye on me the whole time.

Q: What were your initial thoughts about the situation at a macro level?

A: I think it is important to place emphasis on this situation because we need to bring awareness to gun violence and how deeply it can affect an entire community. It always seems like we, as the United States, wait until tragedy strikes to respond and implement safety measures. We need to start acting before they happen and prevent them from happening. We know that gun violence is a huge issue in the U.S., and it will continue being one unless we put all our effort into solving it. More restrictions, better security measures, awareness. This is what I wrote that day right after the ceremony:

"The continued gun violence throughout the United States has run rampant. And it finally came to the town of Cape Girardeau. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon. At a high school graduation. Is it finally enough for us to start taking action? Or are we just going to continue waiting until more people are killed, children traumatized, families separated by unfortunate coincidences? Where are the lawmakers? Now, this isn’t just an issue for the politicians. This is an issue for the entirety of America to deal with. We need to all face and accept that this is an issue before anything can be done. No more ignorance and passiveness because “it hasn’t happened to me yet”. Because if we don’t do something NOW, it will. And trust me, you don’t want to stand on stage at your high school graduation as you watch to-be graduates confused and scared as what was thought to be ‘a door slamming’ or ‘a balloon popping’ turned out to be a gunshot. Freedom has a limit. And that limit occurs when the lives of innocent bystanders are involved. God bless America but God cannot stop gun violence. He cannot just click a button and everything is peaceful. There will be violence and there will be deaths. Those things are inevitable. What we can control is what we do to stop it before it happens."

Cao has plans to attend Georgetown University and major in finance.

Senior reporter Bob Miller contributed to this report.