SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KTVU) -- A Santa Cruz man, wrote a song to express his grief in the killing of 8-year-old Maddy Middleton.
Musician Nick Gallant wrote this note to KTVU:
As a parent, or just as a human for that matter, this tragedy would have been heartbreaking to me. Every parent's worst fear is to lose their child, and something like this opens us up so much to our own vulnerability. That alone is heartbreaking. To see this happen in the community I love - the community where I want to raise my children to live fully and joyously without fear - makes it so much more painful. Yesterday I was overcome with grief; like empathy had cut me wide open and I had no outlet to let that out. So, I do what I often do as a songwriter - I wrote a song. This helped me, as it has in the past with grief, to give voice to my pain, and hopefully to give voice to the pain that others were feeling. I posted the song, in hopes that this could be my contribution to supporting our community's grief (and of course Maddy's family) as well as helping to build the path to healing. Thank you for listening, and may this song help you hold those you love a little closer today.?
Nick posted 'Maddy's Song' to YouTube. Listen by clicking above.