Family, students mourn sudden death of beloved Magruder High School teacher

OLNEY, Md. - The sudden death of a Magruder High School teacher and counselor earlier this month has touched many lives across Montgomery County.
Denise Schaefer meant a lot to many people. Most of all, her husband, Geoff.
"She went in on Thursday morning and she died on Saturday at 5:15 a.m.," Schaefer tells us.
He thought Denise had the flu, but the fever that took Denise at age 38 was brought on by a rare blood infection.
"As sad as it is," Geoff Schaefer says, "it also makes you realize what you have."
Married nine years, Geoff and Denise had two little girls and a special kind of love.
"I guess you know the power of the individual goes farther than you think it does because just by being with her, I have this huge community saying 'We have you.'"
Geoff is an English teacher and volleyball coach at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda.
Denise was a math teacher, softball coach and counselor during her many years at Magruder High School in Rockville.
"(She) established very meaningful relationships, very enthusiastic and full of a lot of energy," says Magruder's principal, Lee Evans.
"For some, who have really close relationships, or who had close relationships with Ms. Schaefer, it's hard," Mr. Evans explains.
Students have created two poster memorials inside the school. One is in the main hallway. The other inside Magruder's Counseling Center.
On one of the posters, one student wrote: "Thank you, Ms. Schaefer for all you had done for me."
Another adding: "You are the best counselor I have ever had."
The door to Schaefer's office hasn't been opened since she died.
"Just dealing with the loss and just not being able to move forward with business as usual," Mr. Evans says. "I haven't been able to do that."
Magruder plans to remember Ms. Schaefer in a special way -- the school is considering naming the softball field's home dugout in her honor.
Geoff says telling Hailey, who is five years old, and Katelyn, 3, was heartbreaking. He says he took the advice of a friend.
He says, "You can't just say, 'Mommy went away.' Because squirrels go away, but they come back. 'Mommy went to bed. Mommy went to sleep.' Because they're going to go to sleep. And you simply have to say, 'Mommy died.'"
He goes on to say, "The worst I heard was that Hailey turned to me and said, 'Do we get a new mommy?' And that hurts to say that because what do you say back to her besides you hold her and say, 'Sorry, no.'"
Schaefer says he has been talking to the girls a good deal.
"We've read some books and we're going to go visit the gravesite together," he tells us. "We're not just going to dismiss this situation. The girls have to know how important she was in their lives and how she will continue to be in other ways."
There has been a huge outpouring of love and support for Geoff and the girls on social media. Friends have created a place where you can donate to a fund to support the Schaefer family: http://www.gofundme.com/9442bc
Geoff and Denise clearly touched many lives -- from their home in Olney, teaching jobs in Rockville and Bethesda, and in Potomac, where Geoff is a longtime swim coach at Country Glen Swim and Tennis Club.
In terms of raising Hailey and Katelyn as a single father, Geoff says he has got a lot of work to do.
"Without my friends, without our neighbors, both schools, Country Glen (my swim club), I don't know how I'd get through this because people are stopping their own lives to make sure our lives are put back together,” he says


Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/25646019/family-students-mourn-sudden-death-of-beloved-magruder-high-school-teacher#ixzz339VOB15P

6 year-old shot at DC Playground

Kalia Smalley

          A 6-year-old girl is recovering at a local hospital after she was hit in the leg by stray gunfire at a Northwest D.C. playground.
    A 25-year-old man was also shot. He got into a car with a friend or relative and was taken to the hospital to get treated for his wounds.
Witnesses say as many as 20 children were on the slides and swings at a playground at the Park Morton apartment complex when a man in black pulled out a pistol and walked through the play area targeting another man.
    Kalia Smalley is up and moving around with the help of a walker and staying close by her mother’s side. The bullet struck her left leg -- just missing bone.
    "I thank God that he is protecting my child even though she was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said her mother, Calandra Smalley. “You know, things happen.”
     Kalia’s mother said she ran toward the playground when she heard the gunfire and found her daughter running toward her. She used a jacket to stop the bleeding and waited for help to arrive. She is now furious with the gunman.
     "Anytime you could go on the playground and just open fire with innocent kids there, you don't have regard for anything,” Calandra said. “And a person like this shouldn’t be out on the street. They should be in jail.”
     Another mother who witnessed the attack from her apartment above the playground and did not want to be identified said the man with the gun had only one thing in mind.
     "When I realized, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at the kids, they’re on the floor, the mothers are yelling,’” she said. “I started yelling [at the gunman], ‘What are you doing? There are kids out there!’ He didn't care what anybody was saying.”
     "Even a pregnant woman was outside and I saw her dive into her twins not caring that she was pregnant to make sure that her twins were safe.”
     One of the rounds hit the stairs leading to the slides and another went right through a slide.
A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said eight shell casings were found on the playground.
     There are surveillance cameras surrounding the playground, but it is unclear if they recorded anything at this point that will be helpful to police.

Read more at: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/25570614/2-people-including-juvenile-girl-shot-in-northwest-dc#ixzz32juxJlbQ