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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Rebecca Nicholson

‘I’ve never been so frightened’: the veteran reporter who turned his lens on the empty bedrooms of school shooting victims

‘If people could step inside, it would change a lot’ … the bedroom of nine-year-old Jackie Cazares, who was one of 19 children and two teachers killed in the Robb elementary school shooting on 24 May 2022 in Uvalde, Texas.
‘If people could step inside, it would change a lot’ … the bedroom of nine-year-old Jackie Cazares, who was one of 19 children and two teachers killed in the Robb elementary school shooting on 24 May 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

Steve Hartman has been a CBS correspondent since 1996. In the US, he is known for his feelgood human interest stories. This month he has reported on the retirement of a well-loved New Jersey postman after 33 years on the job and a truck driver who has spent two decades building a balsa wood scale replica of New York City.

But since 1997, Hartman has also been reporting on school shootings, which have become a horrifyingly common feature of American life. (CNN reports that there were at least 78 in 2025, though there is no universal definition of a school shooting, which means that numbers vary depending on the source. Other reports suggest a much higher figure.)

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