Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Judge burst into tears as she shared a series of text messages from her terrified daughter Sophia Barney as her high school closed on Thursday.
Much to her mother’s shock, the teen, who is currently a senior in high school, told the Real Housewives of Orange County star, 55, that they were sheltering in place.
“No practice,” she texted Judge. “We’re locked in classes with the lights off.”
Sophia went on to tell her mother that she was “hiding right now” and “heard police sirens,” but didn’t know if “there was a shooter.”
After the man was taken into custody, the TV personality shared an emotional video in which he elaborated on what happened.
Scary: Tamra Judge shared a series of terrified text messages from her daughter Sophia Barney on Thursday, revealing that her high school was on lockdown
Terrifying: To her mother’s horror, the teen, who is currently a senior in high school, informed the Real Housewives of Orange County star, 55, that they were sheltering in place
“I want you to know that everything is fine and that they have caught the man. But someone was at my daughter’s school today [with a weapon],” she revealed with tears in her eyes. “The children are traumatized. The teachers are traumatized.’
Judge went on to describe how students at her daughter’s school lay on the floor after barricading the “bookshelf door” of their classroom.
“A teacher handed out hammers. Another had a fire extinguisher ready to go to someone else,” she said.
Eddie Judge’s wife said children were screaming that they didn’t want to die and that as a parent she felt “helpless” reading Sophia’s messages.
“There’s nothing you can do in this goddamn world. I’m so sick of it. I’m so sick of what’s going on. My daughter doesn’t want to go to school anymore. It’s her senior year. This has to stop,” the mother of four decided.
Sharing a screenshot of messages from her teen, Judge said these are texts “no parent wants to receive.”
Judge shares Sophia with her ex-husband Simon Barney, to whom she was married from 1998 to 2011.
The scary ordeal comes less than two weeks after six people were killed by a gunman at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
The shooting was the 129th mass shooting in the United States.
“No practice,” she texted Judge. ‘We are locked in the classrooms with the lights off’
Terrified: After the man was taken into custody, the TV personality shared an emotional video in which he elaborated on what had happened
There have been 13 school shootings so far this year, killing a total of six children and four adults or employees.
It is the deadliest school shooting of 2023 and is one of only five in history to involve a female shooter.
So far California, Texas and Florida have each had 12 mass shootings this year, Louisiana with 11 and Illinois with eight.
Pennsylvania has had seven, Tennessee suffered six, including the latest tragedy according to the Gun Violence Archive.
A total of 63 children were shot dead in the US this year as a result of gun crime, with 128 injured.
Authorities have identified her as a 28-year-old woman from Nashville, though it’s not currently clear exactly how she’s connected to the school — if any.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that three children and three adults were killed in the incident, as well as the gunman killed by police.
Carrying two assault rifles and a handgun during the incident, the female gunman entered the school from the side before going up to the first floor and fired several shots.
The Nashville incident is the third deadliest of the year, with as many deaths as the January 23 Half Moon Bay incident.
“I want you to know that everything is fine and that they have caught the man. But someone was at my daughter’s school today [with a weapon],” she revealed with tears in her eyes. “The children are traumatized. The teachers are traumatized’
A mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, is the worst of the year, killing 12 people – including the gunman.
Eight people were killed in a January 4 shooting in Cedar City, Utah, in which Michael Haight killed his wife, their five children and his mother-in-law before turning the gun on himself.
On Monday, a 25-year-old bank employee killed five people and left eight injured at his workplace in Louisville, Kentucky.
According to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, there are about 120 guns for every 100 Americans.
No other country has more civilian guns than people, with about 44 percent of American adults living in a household with a gun.