Video Shows Children Fleeing Through Woods, Onto Busy Road After Nashville Shooting

Children from The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., hold hands as they are taken to a reunification site at the Woodmont Baptist Church after a deadly shooting at their school on March 27, 2023. (Jonathan Mattise/AP Photo)

A home security camera captured the moment when a group of small children ran out of the woods and across a busy road as they fled from the shooting at Covenant Christian school in Nashville.

The footage, obtained by media outlets, shows the children emerging from a grove of trees alongside a busy street. The children spill out onto the road as cars come to a stop to let them cross.

Actress Melissa Joan Hart, known for starring in the 1990s show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” said she and her husband were driving past and pulled up to help the children. Hart said her children attend school nearby, and she and her husband were on their way to a school conference.

“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,”' she said in an emotional video on Instagram. “So we helped all these tiny little kids cross the road and get [to] their teachers over there. We helped a mom reunite with her children.”

Angie Hawn (C, pink jacket) joins others in prayer at the site of The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tenn., on March 28, 2023. (Chase Smith/The Epoch Times)

Hart noted that this was “our second experience with a school shooting.” In 2012, Hart and her family lived in Connecticut, where her children attended school near Sandy Hook, where a gunman killed 20 children at a school there.

“I don’t know what to say anymore. Enough is enough,” she added. “And just pray. Pray for the families.”

Jason Hoffman also reportedly saw the children coming out of the woods and onto the street, reported CBS. He said he got out of his car to stop traffic.

“I just saw fear,” he said. “I saw these kids are screaming, they’re crying. And I had no idea what was even happening. But I knew that it wasn’t good.”

Shooting

Six people, including three 9-year-old children, were confirmed to have died in the shooting at the Nashville Christian school on Monday.

The three 9-year-old children were identified by authorities as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, while the three adults were named as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. They were a substitute teacher, the head of school, and a custodian.

Police identified the shooter as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old woman who was a former student of the school. Police Chief John Drake said Hale identified as transgender. Hale used male pronouns on a social media site, according to police.

Hale was armed with at least two semiautomatic firearms and a handgun, which she legally obtained.

Officials have identified the suspect in the Nashville Christian school shooting incident as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, as Nashville Police released surveillance footage, seen above, on March 28, 2023. (Nashville Police Department)

A team of five Nashville Police officers entered the school after the initial call and swiftly cleared the first floor of students and staff. Hearing shots on the second floor, two officers opened fire in response and fatally struck Hale at about 10:27 a.m.

Nashville Metro Police say they are still searching for a motive for why Hale chose to shoot up the private Christian elementary school that she had at one time attended.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake said they are looking into whether Hale’s gender identity played a role in the slaughter.

Drake also told reporters that police obtained a manifesto that was penned by the shooter. However, it hasn’t been released to the public, and it’s not clear when it will be.