It has been 25 years since a shocking act of gun violence at an 8th grade class dance in Edinboro.  It happened at the Parker Middle School dance April 24, 1998 at Nick's Place in Edinboro.

Although there had already been school shootings in Pearl, Mississippi, West Paducah Kentucky, and Jonesboro, Arkansas -- the incident in the General McLane School District was shocking at a middle school event, and with a gunman so young.

Popular Parker Middle School science teacher John Gillette was killed that night, fatally shot in the head by student Andrew Wurst, age 14.

Gillette's daughter, Abby Gillette Campbell, only 19-years-old at the time of the tragedy chose to speak out about it only now, because she is weary of seeing other families victimized by what's become an epidemic of gun violence across the country.

Her own anger held her back from speaking publicly until now.  "I'll always be a little angry -- I miss my dad everyday. He's missed out on a lot in our lives and  I think now I'm even more angry because I want to help, I want to see this stop. There shouldn't be one more family that has to be affected by this."

Classmates interviewed after the shooting 25-years-ago told news reporters that Andrew Wurst had told some students that he planned to make the night memorable. State Police said he brought a handgun registered to his father to the dance where he fired on the back patio of Nick's Place, killing Gillette, then he fired inside the dance the bullets grazing a female teacher, and wounding two 14-year-olds.

Students thought they heard balloons popping, but it was gunfire robbing them of their innocence.

Sadly, what was shocking then has been repeated time and again in schools across the nation, out of her own loss it has Abby, a special education teacher herself for 21-years, thinking about prevention.

She's hoping to start a non-profit organization to work toward solutions and has the support of her school principal and superintendent.  "We would like to be focused on prevention, more student well being, after school programs more trauma therapists in our buildings, offering activities for kids to keep them busy."

And Abby wants to be sure students understand the gravity of their actions. "Having more resource officers in the building and educating our kids about what’s okay and what’s not okay and how to take things seriously.  And trying to educate them a little more in how to take things seriously and what the long term effects are from this because it doesn't just affect me, it doesn’t just affect my family, the students that were there--they will have trauma forever after that, it can affect everybody."

Gillette said parents must help too and offered this advice.  "Have a relationship with kids where they're open with you, educate them about resources that can help if they're sad."

As for the shooter, Andrew Wurst, he plead guilty to 3rd degree murder and is still behind bars, not eligible for parole until April 2028, five years from now when he is age 44.