Kelsea Ballerini recalls watching her 15-year-old classmate being shot dead in high school

Kelsea Ballerini recalled watching her classmate shot dead in a high school shooting while paying tribute to the victims of the Nashville shooting in Sunday of the 2023 CMT Awards.

Audrey Hale, 28, opened fire at a Christian elementary school in Tennessee on Monday morning, killing six people, including three nine-year-old students.

The killer, who came from a religious family and whose mother has advocated for stricter gun control, was shot dead by police on an upper floor of the school.

CMT anchor Ballerini fought back tears as she pleaded for an end to gun violence after the atrocity, while reflecting on the senseless murder of her friend Ryan McDonald, 15, in a school cafeteria in 2008. .

She said: ‘On March 27, 2023, three 9-year-old children, Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, along with Dr Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, entered the Covenant School and did not leave.

Audrey Hale, 28, opened fire at a Christian elementary school in Tennessee on Monday morning, killing six people and inducing three nine-year-old students.

CMT anchor Ballerini fought back tears as she pleaded for an end to gun violence after the atrocity, while reflecting on the senseless killing of her friend Ryan McDonald, 15, (pictured) in the cafeteria from a school in 2008.

“The community of grief over this and the 130 mass shootings in the US this year alone stretches from coast to coast. I wanted to personally stand here and share this moment, because on August 21, 2008, I saw Ryan McDonald, my Central High School classmate of 15 years, get killed by a gun in our cafeteria.

“Tonight’s broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of family friends, survivors, witnesses and first responders whose lives continue to be forever changed by gun violence.

“I deeply pray that the closeness and community we feel through the next few hours of music will soon be turned into action, as action that moves us together to create change for the safety of our children and loved ones.”

Kelsea was a sophomore at Central High School, in Knoxville, Tennessee, when Ryan was shot in the chest by a fellow student, Jamar Siler, then 15.

The tragedy made headlines at the time: Ryan, a junior living with his grandmother, was one of several students in the school cafeteria on the morning of August 21, 2008 when he was shot by Jamar.

According to the AP, Ryan was harassed because he had alopecia, which left him bald.

Jamar’s motive for shooting him was unclear, although some reports said that he and Ryan had had a disagreement on the bus that morning. His defense attorney claimed that he had fetal alcohol syndrome.

Eyewitnesses said Ryan was ‘walking around and holding his chest’ before he fell, and that there was ‘blood everywhere’.

“Tonight’s broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of family friends, survivors, witnesses and first responders whose lives continue to be forever changed by gun violence.”

Jamar later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Kelsea describes how the scene played out that day in a poem from her book, due to be published Tuesday.

‘His name was Ryan, and he died on the cafeteria floor of a gunshot wound to the chest. I can’t be too sure, but I think I saw him take his last breath,” she writes.

“I am afraid of loud noises, I am provoked by the news, I am terrified of weapons, I am sensitive in crowds. But I’m alive.

And thanks to a guy named Ryan, I know what a gift that is.

Authorities did not immediately offer a motive for the killings, but investigators believe transgender Audrey Hale harbored “some resentment about having to go to that school” as a child.

Speaking on television this morning, Kelsea shared what she took away from what happened: ‘I think I became very aware of [the fact that] life is short.’

Authorities did not immediately offer a motive for Monday’s slayings, but Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in an interview with NBC News that investigators believed Hale harbored “some resentment about having to go to that school.” when i was a child

Hale had no criminal record prior to the massacre, but it is understood that he elaborately planned his attack, as evidenced by a “manifesto” seized by FBI agents that the killer planned to carry out shootouts at various locations.

The Covenant school was singled out for the Hale attack, but the individual victims, which included three 9-year-old boys, the school’s main administrator, a substitute teacher, and a janitor, were targeted at random.