How Repeated Gun Violence Exposure Leads to Chronic Pain: A Survivor’s Story

In 2019, Mia Tretta, then a high school freshman at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, was struck in the stomach by a round from a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun fired by a schoolmate. Two students were killed during the attack, including her best friend, and two others were injured.

When she graduated from high school, Tretta enrolled at Brown University. In December 2025, while studying for finals in her dorm room, she received alerts about an active shooter on campus. Though she was blocks away, she felt pain in the exact location where she had been shot years earlier. Tretta describes this phenomenon as “phantom bullet syndrome,” a condition akin to phantom limb syndrome, where the body perceives pain or sensation from an injury that is no longer present. For her, these episodes occur during extreme stress.

“It’s crazy to say that the first time, I was the lucky one because though I got shot, I didn’t get killed. And the second time, I was the lucky one because I was a few blocks away.”

Tretta’s experience reflects the growing number of young people who have survived multiple shootings. It also aligns with findings from a recent study linking gun violence exposure to chronic pain. Published in BMC Public Health in January, the Rutgers University study examined six types of gun violence exposure:

• Being shot
• Being threatened with a gun
• Hearing gunshots
• Witnessing a shooting
• Knowing a friend or family member who was shot
• Knowing someone who died by firearm suicide

Using a nationally representative survey of 8,009 people, researchers found that 23.9% reported pain most days or every day, while 18.8% said they experienced severe pain. Daniel Semenza, the study’s lead author and director of research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, emphasized the deep connection between mental and physical health in survivors of gun violence.

“Your body, through the experience of post-traumatic stress, is going to feel as if it’s happening over and over and over again.”

Tretta has undergone multiple surgeries to remove the bullet from her 2019 shooting, including a procedure to address nerve damage. Despite these efforts, fragments of the bullet remain lodged in her body. She was later diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, a chronic condition causing joint pain, swelling, and stiffness. Tretta describes her ongoing struggles:

“I have dealt with chronic pain, immunodeficiencies, and bodily differences ever since the shooting happened. Every time I get a fever, it’s a completely different thing than anyone else I know, or even pre-shooting for me. I shake uncontrollably, and it hurts to even touch my arm.”

The Rutgers study underscores the urgent need for further research and support systems for individuals exposed to gun violence, as the physical and psychological toll can persist for years.