Jeremy Burnside of East Lake, Ohio, left work Wednesday, October 10, and walked several blocks to SuccessTech Academy, the downtown Cleveland, Ohio, school that had been the scene of a shooting hours earlier.

"I just wanted to see," said Burnside, who took a photo of the scene and sent it to CNN with his cell phone. Before this event, he was writing opinion pieces to voice his concerns about gun violence, and said this shooting only strengthens his arguments.

Burnside was on campus during a January 2002 shooting at Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. Three people were killed, including the dean, a professor and a student. Three others were wounded.

Looking back, he said he had always hoped if he ever found himself in the position to stop a gunman, he would try to do so. But when he was in the middle of a real-life incident, he waited in the library.

"When it actually happens you're powerless to move. I feel guilty for it, actually."

He participates in annual five-kilometer runs in honor of the victims of the Appalachian School of Law shooting. Earlier this year, he returned to Cleveland after the run and heard about the Virginia Tech shootings in Blacksburg, Virginia, soon after. Virginia Tech and Appalachian School of Law are about two hours apart.

In May 2003, he was in proximity to another shooting, this time at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He had just returned to law school in Grundy after a family visit in Cleveland when he learned of the shooting.

Burnside struggles to understand the coincidences he has seen in his life. He sent in a photo that held more meaning to him than what is apparent at first glance: a few ambulances outside a school following a horrible event. As a person deeply affected by gun violence, he communicated with us as a way of contributing to the ongoing dialogue he has established. He's also building up the historical documentation and interpretation of this event on a greater scale. In that way, a simple picture is worth way more than 1,000 words.

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