Los Angeles (CNN) -- In many ways, Josh Stepakoff's childhood came to an abrupt halt at 10:49 a.m. on August 10, 1999. That's the moment a man named Buford Furrow entered the front door of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles and started shooting. Five people were wounded, including three children. Stepakoff, who was attending summer camp there, had the bad luck to be in the lobby. He took two bullets to his left leg and hip. He was 6 at the time, and is among few people who witnessed the horrific sights and sounds of a mass shooting as a very young child. Like the children of Newtown, Connecticut, he saw blood, he heard screams and he was scared for his life.
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Three children were wounded in a 1999 shooting in Los Angeles
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The survivors of the Connecticut school shooting have a long road ahead, one says
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Now in their teens, the survivors say they were traumatized for years
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"I couldn't be an average child," says Ben Kadish
"My slogan was, 'You're @placeholder and you can do anything,'" he remembers with a smile.