Melissa Joan Hart helped children during the Nashville shooting

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Melissa Joan Hart helps children.

On March 28, 2023, Melissa Joan Hart, who took part in the Season 9 episode of “Dancing With the Stars,” shared an emotional Instagram video telling her followers about her experience after filming at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee , told the day before.

Hart’s Children’s School is located next to the Covenant School. In her post, she revealed that she and husband Mark Wilkerson were in the area at the time of the shooting and were helping out during the aftermath.

“My husband and I were on our way to school for conferences and thankfully our children weren’t there today. And we helped a class of kindergarten kids climb a busy freeway out of the woods trying to escape the shooting at their school,” Hart said in a video posted to her Instagram feed.

“So we helped all these little kids cross the street. And take your teachers there. And we helped a mother reunite with her children,” she continued, clearly emotional.

Here’s what you need to know:

Melissa Joan Hart asked people to pray

Hart and her husband were living in Connecticut, not far from Sandy Hook, when this tragedy struck in December 2012. On the March 29, 2023 episode of her podcast, What Women Binge, Hart said that her son was in the first grade at the time, and if the shooting had happened at his school, he might have been among the deceased.

Hart’s children, who are now 17, 15 and 10, were “all right” despite the scary incident.

“I don’t know what to say anymore,” Hart continued in her Instagram video. “It’s easy, enough is enough. And, um. just pray Pray for the families,” she added.

On her podcast, she dived a little deeper into how things played out on March 27, 2023. She and her husband noticed they saw a helicopter overhead while driving in the area and thought it was strange. What happened next, they were not prepared for. Hart said that a teacher and a group of kids were crossing the street near her car and the “expression on her face” completely “changed” Hart’s life.

“I’ve been trying to understand what she’s doing. Why is she taking these kids down that five lane highway?” Hart said, but realizing those kids needed help, she hopped out of the car.

After about 30 minutes, Hart said a total of 200 police cars had arrived in the area. “It was just crazy,” she said. “It was just the saddest thing I’ve ever experienced,” she added.

The school shooter has been identified as Audrey Hale

Police say 28-year-old Audrey Hale was heavily armed when she entered the Covenant School around 10 a.m. local time. Hale was charged with fatally shooting three students identified by the police as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all aged 9, and three adults Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61, all of whom worked at the school.

Hale was shot and killed by responding officers Rex Engelbert and Officer Michael Collazo, police said in a news release.

Covenant School is a private Christian school that enrolls children from preschool through sixth grade, according to the school’s official website.

Hart and her husband were among many parents who faced unimaginable anxiety and stress on March 27, 2023. DWTS Champion Shawn Johnson, who also lives in Nashville, spoke about her young children being locked up at school that day.

“I haven’t been able to catch my breath since reading the news and getting a call from our school saying they are also on lockdown in light of the news. Shake. Cry. Broken heart. Terrible,” Johnson wrote on her Instagram Stories after the shooting. She later added that what she experienced that day “changed” her.

CONTINUE READING: The DWTS champion trembled after a horrific experience with her children