

Then he came to the school … and Miss Fredericks, our, umm, what’s” - she paused, looking at her grandmother, Sandra McAdams, for help, until the word came to her - “principal. She took out her tablet and pointed at a photo she’d found online of the 14-year-old shooter, who by then had received a life sentence for murdering Jacob.

They also took a photo of Noah with his friends, and later, his dad would fear that his son was the only child in the image who survived. His dad laughed and told him to put it down. His parents told him to smile for a photo, but Noah didn’t like to smile for photos, so he held the certificate up to his nose. And he wanted to become a dental hygienist, just like his mom, when he grew up. He’d started ordering steak for dinner, medium-rare, just like his dad. His parents had seen glimpses of him growing up, though. For his birthday earlier this month, the family drove him to San Antonio to go bowling and pick out Pokémon cards. He spent much of his time playing Mario and Pokémon games on his Nintendo Switch. They’d been at the school on Tuesday morning to watch Noah win an award for art and music, sitting in the front row for the assembly. It tortured Oscar and his wife, Jessica, to know how close he’d come to escaping it. Noah was only 10, but his father and mother were already worried about what this would all mean for him decades from now.
