Two members of the UConn basketball family with Newtown connections — P.J. Cochrane and Kyle Lyddy — made statements regarding Friday’s tragedy. Cochrane, a 2008 Newtown High graduate, was a walk-on with the Huskies from 2010-12. Lyddy graduated from Newtown in 2005 and served as a team manager at UConn. Here are their statements:
*Cochrane: “Our hearts are broken here in Newtown. It is still so hard to understand how something like this could happen here. My heart breaks for the families that lost such little children and their loved ones. I don’t know how you move on from such a tragedy. However, if there is a town that can cope, comfort and help heal these wounds, it is this community. Newtown truly is a place of great people, that have come together time and time again when one of their own was in need. In this time of great loss, I know this town will stand strong behind the victims of such senseless madness.”
*Lyddy: “Growing up in the small, beautiful, quaint town of Newtown, Conn., we tabbed the place as ‘boring’. The police always had “nothing to do” and we always criticized them for pulling us over and making “unnecessary” loops around town. Today, I sit here looking for that boring town to come back, for those police officers to have little to do and for those unnecessary loops to proceed.
Instead, today, we see hundreds of media members and thousands of visitors from around the state and world come pay tribute to those lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The town is forever changed. Newtown is the epitome of that New England town where “that” just can’t happen here. No, really… it was. The town’s known for its schools, known for walking into Dunkin Donuts with your car doors unlocked and known for a community where everyone knows everyone. It was a safe community. And it still is. But, our community struggles to comprehend why…and we may never have that answer. Our mourning will continue, not just today, not just this week, but for months and years to come as we remember all of those lives lost on that horrific Friday morning. The world has responded, literally, in unimaginable ways. I’m proud today to say that I am from that boring town of Newtown. My thoughts and prayers are with those families who lost a loved one, those teachers who heroically saved lives, and the first responders who were prepared to do what they were trained to do. Thank you, thank you, thank you. My heart aches for you all.”
