The morning of Nov. 14, 2019, began like any other day for then-15-year-old Mia Tretta. She arrived early at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita to hang out with her best friend Dominic Blackwell, and talk about their Spanish test and the upcoming school dance that weekend.
“We teased each other about who would do better on the test that day and we joked about who would ask who to the school dance,” recalled Tretta. “Our lives were simple, easy. But all of that changed at 7:30 a.m.”
That’s when a lone shooter opened fire on students on the campus of Saugus High, killing Blackwell and fellow classmate Gracie Anne Muehlberger, and also injuring three – including Tretta, who was shot in the abdomen.
“Not long after the paramedics and police arrived, they rushed me into an ambulance and took me to a nearby park, where I was airlifted to a place I’d never been before – Providence Holy Cross in Mission Hills,” Tretta said, addressing dozens gathered in the hospital chapel to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Holy Cross Trauma Center, the first in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.
“As you can see,” continued Tretta, now 19-year-old gun safety advocate and student at Brown University, “I was saved that day at Holy Cross.”
The April 26 event at Holy Cross – dubbed “Triumph Over Trauma” – brought together medical personnel and hospital executives, who welcomed community supporters and trauma survivors. Since opening in 1984, the Holy Cross Trauma Center has treated nearly 45,000 patients, including victims of violence, car accidents and construction site mishaps.
The local trauma center also treats unexpected health emergencies: like Matthew Scalice, who survived cardiac arrest at age 15; equestrian accidents, including Leslie Crane, who was injured in a fall from her horse; and sports-related incidents, like Jimmy Soliz, who was gravely injured in a motocross race in 2008.
“I had a very bad accident with a spinal cord injury and broken extremities, and … they were going to take me to a Lancaster or Palmdale hospital. I begged them to bring me here, knowing this was a great hospital for trauma care,” Soliz told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol.
Soliz explained that he was familiar with the hospital’s “great reputation” for trauma care from his years of riding on the motocross circuit, where accidents are relatively commonplace.
“I’m thankful that the paramedics listened to me and they brought me here,” he continued.
Although the crash left him largely paralyzed from the waist down, Soliz credits Holy Cross for their “excellent” treatment and aftercare, and for putting him on a path to emotional healing.
“The healing process started here … with the positivity of the nurses and the doctors. Despite my injury and how bad it was – and it was life-changing – they reassured me saying, ‘life doesn’t stop here,’” said Soliz, who has forged a second athletic career as a Paralympic alpine skier.
“I’m very, very thankful that I was still able to be a professional athlete,” he said.
Bernie Klein, M.D., chief executive of Holy Cross, said the hospital prioritizes “whole person care,” focusing on both trauma prevention and treatment. In late 2023, it launched a safe firearm storage initiative to help reduce gun-related deaths and injuries. To date, Holy Cross has given away almost 400 gun locks to practitioners, caregivers, patients and community members.
“In our ongoing efforts to prevent trauma before it occurs … we are taking tangible steps towards [creating] a safer environment,” said Klein, noting that gun locks could help prevent incidents like the Saugus shooting. The 16-year-old perpetrator – who fatally shot himself after the shooting spree – had used his deceased father’s unsecured .45 caliber homemade firearm.
Tiffany Tretta, mother of Mia Tretta and a board member with Holy Cross, said she appreciates the gun lock initiative, which she considers an essential trauma prevention measure.
“We do everything we can to protect our children – we put them in car seats, we put gates around our pools, we make sure we know whose home they’re going to and that there aren’t medicines left around. So why [not] do the same with firearms?” she said.
Tiffany Tretta added she still vividly recalls the day of the school shooting, which she described as “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
“We were lucky that Mia was able to get here quickly … lucky that she got exceptional care,” she told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, adding that it “just seemed fitting” to want to remain involved with the Holy Cross community by eventually becoming a board member.
“We kept in touch with every doctor, we kept in touch with nurses here. … It’s a special place.”