Melissa Joan Hart Breaks Down in Tears Describing Helping Kindergartners Run From Nashville School Shooting
Melissa Joan Hart is sharing her experience guiding frightened students to safety after the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
In an emotional Instagram video, Nashville resident Hart said that she and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were driving to parent-teacher conferences at her children’s nearby school when they noticed children sprinting away from The Covenant School.
Three children and three staff members were shot and killed at the school on March 27. The shooter also died.
“We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway. They were climbing out of the woods. They were trying to escape the shooter situation at their school,” the actor said, through tears. “So we helped all these tiny little kids cross the road and get (to) their teachers … We helped a mom reunite with her children.”
“I don’t just don’t know what to say anymore,” she added. “Enough is enough. And just pray. Prayer for the families.”
Hart and Wilkerson are parents of Mason, 17, Braydon, 15, and Tucker, 10. The family relocated to Tennessee from Connecticut. In her video on her verified Instagram account, Hart noted that they used to live near Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, where a shooter killed 26 people in 2012.
“So this is our second experience with a school shooting with our kids being in close proximity,” the “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” star said. “Luckily, we are all OK.”
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for U.S. children — every day, 22 children are shot.
The Nashville shooter, a 28-year-old former student, was armed with two assault rifles and a handgun when they shot through locked doors of the private Christian school, according to police.
The attacker was confronted by police and fatally shot roughly 14 minutes after the massacre began, authorities said.
Officials identified the three children as Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kenney and Hallie Scruggs, all 9-year-old students at the small Christian private school. Michael Hill, a 61-year-old custodian, Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher, and school principal Katherine Koonce, 60, also died in the shooting.
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Melissa Joan Hart is sharing her experience guiding frightened students to safety after the school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
In an emotional Instagram video, Nashville resident Hart said that she and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were driving to parent-teacher conferences at her children’s nearby school when they noticed children sprinting away from The Covenant School.
Three children and three staff members were shot and killed at the school on March 27. The shooter also died.
“We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway. They were climbing out of the woods. They were trying to escape the shooter situation at their school,” the actor said, through tears. “So we helped all these tiny little kids cross the road and get (to) their teachers … We helped a mom reunite with her children.”
“I don’t just don’t know what to say anymore,” she added. “Enough is enough. And just pray. Prayer for the families.”
Hart and Wilkerson are parents of Mason, 17, Braydon, 15, and Tucker, 10. The family relocated to Tennessee from Connecticut. In her video on her verified Instagram account, Hart noted that they used to live near Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, where a shooter killed 26 people in 2012.
“So this is our second experience with a school shooting with our kids being in close proximity,” the “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” star said. “Luckily, we are all OK.”
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for U.S. children — every day, 22 children are shot.
The Nashville shooter, a 28-year-old former student, was armed with two assault rifles and a handgun when they shot through locked doors of the private Christian school, according to police.
The attacker was confronted by police and fatally shot roughly 14 minutes after the massacre began, authorities said.
Officials identified the three children as Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kenney and Hallie Scruggs, all 9-year-old students at the small Christian private school. Michael Hill, a 61-year-old custodian, Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher, and school principal Katherine Koonce, 60, also died in the shooting.
Related video:
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY
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This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.