Melissa Joan Hart struggled to contain her emotions as she opened up about how she helped kindergartners escape a shooting inside their Christian school.
The “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” actress lives in Nashville, Tennessee, not far from the Covenant School, where six people were killed during a mass shooting on Monday. Her children also go to school “right next to” the site of the massacre, she said.
In an emotional Instagram video, Hart revealed that she and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were driving to parent-teacher conferences at her children’s nearby school when they spotted terrified kids fleeing the Covenant School.
“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,” she continued. “We helped a mom reunite with her children.”
Police identified the shooter in the attack as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old from Nashville who once attended the Covenant School. Hale entered the building after 10 a.m. on Monday and opened fire on students and teachers alike.
The shooter killed six people before being shot to death by responding police officers.
Three 9-year-old students — identified by authorities as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney — and three adults, Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, were killed in the shooting.
Hart also revealed this is not the first time she and her family have lived near the site of a tragedy. She said her family moved to Tennessee from Connecticut, where they lived near Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. A gunman shot and killed 26 people at the school in 2012. The victims included children as young as 6 and 7 years old.
“I don’t just don’t know what to say anymore,” she added. “Enough is enough. And just pray. Prayers for the families.”
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