A survivor of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas is using her experience to produce a documentary highlighting the mass shooting epidemic in the United States.
Jenna Cook from California was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with her family when they heard gunshots. They initially thought they were fireworks until they realized people were being shot.
As Cook ran for her life, she also starting recording on her phone. Her thinking was that if she didn't make it, she at least wanted to capture what was going on. "It was fight or flight," she said. "How do I get out of this and how do I make sure somebody remembers what happens to me?"
She still hasn't been back to Las Vegas since the shooting and says she was also shaken by the other mass shootings in Texas and then Florida that have happened since.
It's what inspired the public health worker to become a film producer. She's now working on a project called "When Prayers Aren't Enough." It's a documentary that explores the epidemic of mass shootings with the goal of making sure they never happen again.
Cook doesn't claim to have to answers, but plans on addressing the topic by traveling the U.S. and Canada interviewing survivors of the Las Vegas shooting and other mass shootings and give those survivors a platform.
Cook says while she supported the March For Our Lives, she doesn't want to put her own political views into the documentary. "I have to be the referee and make sure that everyone's represented and that everybody has their voices heard," she says.
She says while many survivors support gun restrictions, including banning bump stocks, and tighter background checks, she's also met other survivors who are adamantly pro-gun.
But what unites them is a desire to see mass shootings stop, hence the title "When Prayers Aren't Enough."
Right now, all her interviewees have been survivors from Southern California. They've created a GoFundMe page with a goal of $50,000 for the project. Right now they have $6,000 and plan to do more interviews. Their funding mostly goes to travel and film crews.
For more information, to watch their trailer, and support their project, click here.
