'Life needs more happy feelings': Vancouver kids get Halloween do-over

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) -- Even though Halloween was Thursday, hundreds of kids got their candy at a Trunk or Treat event at the Vancouver Plaza.

The event, organized by Tara Chrest, was billed as a do-over for those kids who were trick-or-treating at the Vancouver Mall when gunfire rang out, killing one person and wounding two others.

"The following day, I saw that there were a lot of people, a lot of families that were saying, 'I really wish I could give my kids a do over. I wish we had another second chance at Halloween because they were so sad,'" Chrest told KOIN 6 News. "And so for us, community healing after an event like that is important."

She said she was going to take her kids to the mall for Halloween right before the shooting.

"We made a different choice. And my heart goes out to everybody who was there and experienced it."

Her daughter, 12-year-old Micah Mosher, wanted to help because of her own trauma with a shooting.

"I'm really excited to be able to help, because when I was my sister's age, 8, I had been at school after hours, and there was a shooting in the parking lot, and I was so scared and I didn't know how to feel about it," Micah said. "But now I hear all these kids get a do-over and they get to feel better because life needs more happy feelings."

Teacher Lisa Parkard had a personal connection to the shooting. One of her student's parents contacted her "and told me her son was at the food court when it happened and was very traumatized."

That's when she knew she wanted to open her trunk for him and the other kids.

"I heard he didn't sleep very well that night," she said. "I think he's still processing it. So I think probably he's going to continue processing it for the rest of his life."

It wasn't just candy for the kids to enjoy. There were animals there, too. Volunteer Michael Lutz said "you can't help but to smile" at the goats and horses, "so it'll just brighten up the mood of everybody."