Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson’s Family ‘Shaking. Crying’ After Nightmare of Nashville Massacre
Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson shared the fear and sadness her family felt as a shooter entered a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, forcing her children’s school to go into lockdown.
“I haven’t been able to catch my breath since reading the news and getting a call from our school that they were on lockdown as well given the news. Shaking. Crying. Heartbroken. Horrific,” Johnson said in a post on her InstaStories on Monday.
“Our babies are now home with us,” Johnson went on, mentioning in another section of her post that she’s seen ambulances and police cars going up and down the streets in her community. “I feel lucky and blessed but still so incredibly sad. No parent or family should ever have to deal with this.”
The former athlete and “Dancing With the Stars” champion went on to give an update on the shooting, which happened at Covenant School at around 10:13 a.m. She also prayed for the families of the three children and two adults who died on the scene or were impacted by the incident. Before the end of the day, that number went up, with an additional adult dying from bullet wounds.
“Praying for the families whose baby won’t be coming home from school today and the families who have lost a piece of themselves,” Johnson wrote. She went on to share footage at home holding her daughter and son. “Can’t stop crying,” she wrote in a caption on the video.
Johnson went on to share video that her husband, Andrew East, caught on their way home from picking up their children. “These are all of the babies from the shooting being taken to safety,” she captioned it. “My mama heart if shattered for you guys. You’ve don’t ever fully recover from this. Thinking of these beautiful innocent babies, their families, the first responders, the teachers, everyone affected y today’s heinous acts. Helicopters are still circling. The silence in Nashville is very loud right now.”
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Monday’s shooting now marks the 129th mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year. The shooter has been identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who police shot and killed. Authorities believe Hale was previously a student at the school.
Hale entered the school Monday morning through a side door and was armed with at least two assault-style rifles along with a handgun.
