Melissa Joan Hart helped bring children to safety after a shooting at Covenant School
Photo via Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
This article contains touchy and heartbreaking topics; please pay attention while reading.
Melissa Joan Hart shared on her Instagram account a deeply personal story about the mass shooting that took place on Monday, March 27 at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Six people died at Covenant School; three children and three adults, and countless lives forever changed because of these losses.
Hart spoke about the experience she shared with her husband on Monday as they drove to conferences; Her kids weren’t in school as a result of those meetings, and she also shared the heartbreaking truth that it wasn’t the first time she’s been close to a school shooting — which says it all. While Hart reassured her family is safe, she was moved by what they experienced not once, but twice.
Hart relocated with her family from Connecticut to Nashville, where her children attended a school near Sandy Hook, the school that suffered a devastating loss in 2012 when 26 people, including 20 children, lost their lives. That means the Nashville tragedy was the second time Hart’s family had dealt with something so heartbreaking on a personal level.
“For those of you in the know, I live in Nashville… My kids go to school right next door to a school where there was a shooting today. We moved here from Connecticut where we were at a school just down the road from Sandy Hook, so this is our second experience of a school shooting where our kids were in close proximity.”
In Nashville, Hart told her story of something that wasn’t true when she noticed a road they normally took was closed, only blocked by one officer; She tried to write off anything serious. However, when she saw a group of young children trying to cross a highway from a wooded area, she knew she had to do something.
“My husband and I were on our way to school for conferences and luckily our children weren’t there today and we were helping a class of kindergarten children across a busy freeway. They climbed out of the forest. They were trying to escape the shooter situation at their school. So we helped all these little kids cross the street and get their teachers over there and we helped a mother reunite with her kids and I just don’t know what else to say. Enough is enough. just pray Pray for the families.”
Speaking to Ashleigh Banfield for NewsNation, Hart spoke more about the ordeal, including how the teachers tried to keep their eyes down and focused, likely to avoid a deep commotion in front of the kids. It goes without saying that teachers wake up every day and realize that their every action affects the students they teach; Holding it together under such dire circumstances is a bravery beyond words.
“We got them across the street as quickly as possible. The teachers didn’t want to make eye contact. I think that’s because they were trying not to break down.”
Hart also said it was traumatic just as a viewer – and to imagine the families who received life-changing calls Monday afternoon, there’s no emotion strong enough to describe it. She asked those who saw the video she shared to send prayers to their families, and her caption for the video was something of a promise: “Prayer today, action tomorrow.”
“It was so traumatic and I was just a spectator, I’m just there trying to help in any way I can. Knowing that there were parents last night who went home without their kids… it’s just unbelievable.”
A vigil honoring the lives lost Monday was held in Nashville Wednesday afternoon, giving mourners a chance to come together and honor those they will never forget. Stories will be told about Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce and Mike Hill, and their loved ones will undeniably honor them throughout their lives.
https://wegotthiscovered.com/celebrities/melissa-joan-hart-helped-get-children-to-safety-following-covenant-school-shooting/ Melissa Joan Hart helped bring children to safety after a shooting at Covenant School
