The recent mass murder in Nashville, Tennessee, in which a gunman opened fire on a school, killing three children and three adults, has had a profound impact on Melissa Joan Hart’s life, and she has spoken out about it.
The Sabrina the Teenage Witch actress discussed the incident at the school “right next” to the one where her three children (10, 15, and 17) attend on Monday’s episode of her What Women Bridge program. Hart, who recently relocated from Connecticut, where twenty children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown in 2012, noted that this was the second school she had attended in which a large number of people had been killed. The two hosts, Hart and Amanda Lee, were on their way to a parent gathering at their kids’ schools when they witnessed the unthinkable: a teacher guiding students across a highway to safety.
She and her spouse were driving when she spotted a helicopter and reported it to the event organizers. “We were like, ‘That’s really weird.’ Then we tried to cross the street, and there was only one cop car there telling people to turn. We turned, and the car in front of us stopped. Suddenly, I saw a teacher come out of nowhere, walk into the street, stop traffic, and suddenly, a bunch of little kids go by. The look on her face changed my life.”
Something awful was amiss, Hart recalled, and thinking about the officer and the helicopter made him feel even worse. She stated that she had gotten out of the vehicle and was assisting children in making their way across the road. She mentioned that one child had approached her and inquired as to what was going on, but that Hart was doing her best to assist in the confusion. She also mentioned that the lone cop in the area was busy with traffic control.
The celebrity, who was present with her spouse, later revealed that she had learned the event wasn’t a practice.
The mother exclaimed, “They’re running across the street; something must be very bad,” implying that the situation was much more dire than children playing on the shoulder of what is essentially a freeway as their parents crossed the street.
When Hart realized the educators and students were in fact fleeing for their lives, he took action. Hart claimed that she prayed with a worried parent whose kid was possibly still inside the building. The child and her mother reunited at a firehouse, according to Hart.
According to Hart, there were about 200 police vehicles that turned up to the area.
The noises, she said, were driving her insane. I’ve never seen anything so tragic in my life.
Nashville resident Hart took to Instagram to share her thoughts on Tuesday’s deadly murder.
At the outset of the recording, she addressed the recent murder: “Hey, guys, for those of you that know, I live in Nashville, and what’s been going on here today?”
She said, “My children attend school next door to the school where the shooting occurred today. We recently relocated from Connecticut, where they attended school not far from Sandy Hook. This is our second experience with a school shooting with our children being close by, but thankfully, we are all fine.”
As Hart recounted how she and her husband had rescued the children, she began to weep.
She told him that she and her husband had escorted a group of terrified kindergarteners out of the woodlands and across a busy freeway after they had escaped a school shooting. When she said this, she looked noticeably disturbed. We assisted a mother in locating her children and a large gathering of kids and their instructors in safely crossing the street.
As for what to say after that, she concluded, “I don’t know what else to say. Enough is enough. Just pray for the families.”
