YORK, Pa. — Sometimes, Emily Brown’s mind flashes back to July 2, 2015.
When she hears firecrackers. Sees wood decks. Smells the aromas of a summer night.
Brown was a customer at Flapjack’s Restaurant and Pub off U.S. Route 15 in Carroll Township that night, along with about 50 to 60 other people. It was Bike Night. Bud Lights were on special for $2, and it was about 24 hours from the start of the holiday weekend.
But shortly before 9 p.m., Arthur Guise, 31, walked onto the patio and, without saying a word, shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Sharon Williams, 33. He then killed himself.
What happened that night in a normally quiet area of York County has, in a way, forever connected a group of people: witnesses, first-responders and members of both families. One year later, they press forward in different ways.
Guise’s parents are attempting to bring awareness to post-traumatic stress disorder – which they believed he battled – and suicide among veterans. Williams’ loved ones are trying to keep her memory alive.
“Your life changes,” said Brown, 48, a small business owner who lives in Carlisle. “That’s for sure.”
Looking back, Brown thinks she was “more prepared” than most people who were there.
She had already been going to therapy. She had already learned not to hold in her feelings.
That’s because in 2010, her son, Jyler Yock , a “typical teenager” who played football and lacrosse, also died by suicide. He was 15.
