♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, the walmart shooting. survivor reliving the moment the mass shooting began. >> he literaly just put the gun up and just started shooting. >> yet another community reeling on the eve of thanksgiving. plus bonded in grief. a closer look at how fraternity hazing on college campuses can turn deadly. >> i never thought it would be him. wrestler, baseball player, the strongest kid around. >> you shouldn't go off to college and not come home. >> united in pain and now in purpose. >> new legislation, will it in any way feel like justice? >> it will bring me some peace.

>> i agree. david archuletta. ♪ whenever you're feeling lonely ♪ >> a breakout star on "american idol," now one of the world's most famous mormons is opening up. >> have you left the church? >> i've taken a step away. >> how he struggled with coming out and his crisis of faith. out of his darkest moments -- >> don't be afraid of something just because it's different from you. ndou yo menof fiour potential support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c

♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight as we gather to give thanks, another community traumatized by gun violence. this time, a mass shooting at a virginia walmart. six killed and more than a half dozen injured. it comes days after the nightclub shooting in colorado springs and after three university of virginia football players were fatally shot just a few hours away. and this sobering statistic. more than 600 mass shootings in america so far this year. here's abc's jane o'brien. >> he did not say a word. literally just put the gun up and started shooting aimlessly at everything and anything. >> reporter: briana tyler tells me the gunman, 31-year-old andre bing, fired into a break room during a staff meeting at the start of the overnight shift.

a bullet whizzing by her. >> it just missed you? >> yeah, it had just missed me. yes, it did. >> reporter: briana, only on the job two months, thought it might be a drill. >> i froze. i just stood there, not realizing what was going on. looking at everybody dropped down on the floor. >> reporter: but then she realized what was happening. >> the moment i looked over at my friend, she was slumped over, eyes closed. there was blood just gushing out of her neck. that's when it kicked in and i was like, oh -- this is real. i have to run. >> reporter: briana says the gunman then moved into the store, still shooting. police say when they arrived, minutes later, the gunman had already taken his own life. tonight, the city releasing the names and faces of five of his victims. lorenzo gamble, brian pendleton, kelly pyle, randall blevina, antony kajohnson. a sixth victim has not been identified because he was only 16 years old. >> our thanks to jay.

for many families, thanksgiving means college students home for the holiday. is hazing part of the campus experience? for four mothers you're about to meet, the answer is heartbreaking. here's abc's kyra phillips. >> reporter: it's a moment 18 years in the making. >> so excited about it. truly excited about school probably for the first time in his life. >> reporter: heading off to college. >> 18, you know, he had everything in front of him. >> reporter: dreams and destinies about to be defined. >> he just was very ambitious. >> reporter: for the parents, saying good-bye is always so bittersweet. >> when we were leaving him at lsu that day, he was so happy. >> reporter: but for these four mothers, those emotional farewells would be their last. >> when you look at that photo now what goes through your mind? >> i almost didn't take that picture. because, you know, i wanted to

live in the moment. >> reporter: a moment ray ann groover, evelyn piazza, cat lien wyant, and carol king will never experience with their boys again. >> what's the one thing you miss the most about tim? >> just -- everything. i miss everything. >> reporter: they tell us they are bonded by fraternity hazing and heartbreak. >> you shouldn't go off to college and not come home 29 days later. >> reporter: these four fearless moms are determined to make a difference. >> we're uniquely qualified. we're saying, don't haze, because this is what happens. this is the damage that it does. >> reporter: ray ann's son, max, a freshman at louisiana state university when he lost his life at the age of 18. campus police say max died after an hours'-long hazing ritual

called bible study. pledges reciting the greek alphabet. if you make a mistake, you're forced to drink alcohol. max's cause of death, acute alcohol intoxication and asphy asphyxiation. his blood alcohol level w was .495%, more than six times the legal limit. >> we thought he found a group of guys that were a lot like him. and they killed him. >> reporter: evelyn's 19-year-old son, tim, attended penn state in 2017. the grim details of his hazing death, shocking the nation. >> it was night one for tim. he didn't get a choice. >> reporter: the investigation surrounding tim's death revealed he had consumed at least 18 alcoholic drinks in less than two hours, leading to his fall down a flight of stairs. fraternity members waited nearly 12 hours before calling 911.

>> how do you process that? when you learned about the surveillance video and that they were splashing water on his face and carrying him back up to the couch and trying to prop him up? i mean, hours and hours went by. >> this has been the summer of depositions. and i've seen some of the video. that i swore i wasn't going to watch. and it's hard. it's really hard to know that somebody didn't value your son's life. >> reporter: kathleen's 18-year-old colin attended university of ohio in 2018. according to a lawsuit filed by his parents against the fraternity, which was settled last year without admitting wrongdoing, colin endured weeks of extreme hazing. his cause of death, asphyxiation

after inhaling a canister of nitrous oxide. >> i still can't believe that he could get sucked into it, but now that i know so much about hazing, i realize anyone can get sucked into it. >> reporter: carol lost her 18-year-old justin at bloomsburg university in 2019. the investigation finding justin died after falling down an embankment while walking from a fraternity party where his parents allege in a lawsuit he was coerced into drinking. abc reached out to kappa sigma, the fraternity declined to comment. >> did any of you ever think that hazing would be an issue in your household with your boys? >> i never thought it would be him. you know? wrestler, baseball player, the strongest kid around. never thought it would be him. >> they just want to belong. >> reporter: for the past 62

years, at least one hazing-related death has been reported in the united states. and in a 2008 university of maine survey, more than half of u.s. college students involved in university organizations say they have experienced some type of hazing. why does it keep happening? >> hazing is a cycle. the only reason people haze is because they were hazed. >> they think they're invincible and nothing's going to happen to me, or what i'm doing to this person -- i never thought this would happen to max. not in a million years did i think my son would die because of hazing and a fraternity. >> it's russian roulette. >> reporter: these moms now advocates. forming the anti-hazing coalition with an unlikely alliance -- the north american interfraternity conference. coming here to our nation's

capital, demanding change. these mothers lobbying for the "end all hazing act." legislation that would require universities to keep a database that would disclose any violation that threatens the safety of students. how could this legislation save lives? >> we're giving them the information they need. if this was in place, when i looked up that fraternity, he absolutely wouldn't have pledged. he would be here today. >> did you ever expect that there would be a higher purpose within all of this? >> i honestly think max is up there like, you're doing this all for me? wow! you really are a mama bear! >> reporter: mama bears banging on doors. >> we tell everybody in georgia everything you're doing for us -- >> reporter: meeting with senators andofhe. attach their

other parents from such devastating loss. >> will new legislation in any way feel like justice? >> it will bring me some peace. >> i agree. >> but it won't -- it won't bring justice, it won't bring justin back. >> if you had the opportunity now to say just one more thing to your boys, what would it be? >> "don't go." >> our thanks to kyra. up next, his crisis of faith. why former "american idol" star david archuletta is stepping away from the mormon church. 2 d, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point.

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david archuleta became a teen heartthrob on the "american idol" stage. he also grew up in the mormon church. but after coming out last year, the singer decided it's time to step away. he sat down with my colleague, steve osunsami. ♪ would you still stand by me ♪ >> reporter: more than 14 years have flown by since singer david archuleta first became an "american idol" on television and in the mormon church, where he was raised and celebrated. ♪ >> you are one of the most famous mormons in the world. is that fair to say? >> i guess so, yeah. they're very invested in me. >> okay. >> they really wanted to know how i was doing, that i was progressing, which meant marriage. >> reporter: now at age 31, archuletta says when he admitted

to himself and the world last year that he was attracted to men, he says the leaders of his church failed to accept him as god made him to be. have you left the church? >> i've taken a step away. >> so you came to this conclusion recently? >> the beginning of this year. and i've had a faith crisis this year. now i'm like -- i've had to deconstruct everything. >> reporter: the church of latter-day saints is the fourth-largest christian church in america with leaders they call apostels. after meeting with one of them last fall, archuletta decided he was done with what he says are contradictions in the faith. >> i think three times in that conversation he said, "well, we just need to find you a good girl, maybe you can find a good girl." i'm like, "that's not the solution." >> reporter: the church's official position is online for all to see and says whale same-sex attraction is not a sin, it can be a challenge. they say mormons who experience same-sex attraction or identify as gay can fully participate in

the church, but archuletta says that having same-sex attraction and being allowed to act on it in any way are two different things. >> they said, "can you see why i'm thinking so much, because i'm trying everything i can to find a way to still belong here, because this has meant so much to me." >> reporter: his public journey to self-acceptance, to being fine with being queer, moved many steps forward with this emotional instagram post in june 2021 where he wrote, "i needed to bring more awareness to people in my same situation and let you know you're not alone, you can be part of the lgbtqia+ community and still believe in god and his gospel plan." he says that soon after, he started hearing from mormons around the world with similar struggles. >> and i remember getting lots of messages on instagram from parents saying, my child just came out to us, we weren't sure what to do. seeing you talk about your

journey and that you're part of this helps us, it puts us at ease a little more. and i was really happy about that. suddenly -- >> that you became the poster child before you came out? >> so people looked at me as an example, to the point where it's like, if david archuleta is there, he's doing it, then it's okay. >> you being queer? >> yes. that's why i felt a lot of pressure when i came out. >> reporter: we talked with him outside of one of the majestic temples at the church's headquarters in salt lake city where they would often ask him to sing. in seconds, it was clear why he says the apostels were trying so hard to change him and keep him in the church. since we first talked with him a year ago -- >> have you dated a guy? >> i- i haven't. >> reporter: he met a boyfriend, said good-bye to that boyfriend, is dating again, says he sees himself marrying a man someday. it's such a far cry from the young guy who almost married three different women and once considered ending his life.

>> you're trying to decide, what's worse? is it worse for this feeling of desiring men to finally explode where i can't control it anymore? it got to a point where i realized, there's something in me telling me my value, there's value to me still living, even if i was gay, even if i was queer. and that was really hard for me to accept. because my church wasn't outright aggressive towards gay people, but it's a very passive-aggressive, stern stance they have about it. >> a rejection? >> yeah. >> reporter: he says he's moving forward with new music, a new tour, new confidence in his life. what are you working on now? and how is your music tying into this? >> i took a bit of a hiatus because i've been reconfiguring my life and my purpose, my identity. because it was so deeply rooted in my religion.

now i -- i felt i had no meaning, i didn't have a purpose to live, to live for. one of the songs i released was, i'm going to write about what it feels like to be in a relationship that i'm actually genuinely excited about. withaast week e church and want to meet again, but he says he's not going to keep trying to become something he's not. >> don't be afraid of something just because it's different from you. is what i would hope would be the takeaway. especially for people of faith. don't think just because someone is different from you, that they are rebelling against what you find valuable and meaningful in your life, just because the person they date is of the same gender. but i think you'd be surprised at their values, their desires, their goals, how they want to participate in life is nearly identical to the same way you do, it's just -- looks slightly different on the outside.

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♪ finally tonight, it has been

another difficult stretch in america. made me think of the early 20th century american poet gertrude stein who said, "silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." this thanksgiving, if you have anything or a person to be grateful for, find a reason to say "thank you" out loud. thanks for the company, america. see you right back here same time tomorrow. good night.