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Tags: melissa joan hart | nashville | shooting

Melissa Joan Hart Helped Kids Flee Nashville School Shooting

By    |   Wednesday, 29 March 2023 11:45 AM EDT

Actor Melissa Joan Hart helped children flee Nashville's Covenant School after Monday's deadly shooting.

"My kids go to school right next to a school where there was a shooting today," Hart said in an Instagram video posted Tuesday.

"We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway that were climbing out of the woods, that were trying to escape the shooter situation at their school," said Hart.

"We helped all these tiny little … kids cross the road and get their teachers over there, and we helped a mom reunite with her children."

Six people were killed at a small, private Christian school just south of downtown Nashville on Monday after a shooter opened fire inside the building of about 200 students, police said.

Police received a call about an active shooter at The Covenant School — a Presbyterian school — around 10:15 a.m. Authorities said that about 15 minutes after that call to police, the shooter was dead. The remaining students were ferried to a safe location to be reunited with their parents.

The victims were identified as Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; Mike Hill, 61; and Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9. Police officers also killed the shooter.

Police identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Hale.

The shooter was armed with two "assault-style" weapons as well as a handgun, authorities said. At least two of them were believed to have been obtained legally in the Nashville area, according to the chief.

Hart in her social media post said the school shooting wasn't the first her family experienced nearby — she previously lived in Connecticut when the Sandy Hook shooting took place.

"I said to my 17-year-old last night, I hugged him, and I said, 'I'm sorry this is the second time you've been in a lockdown,' and he said, 'Actually mom, it's the third.' I forgot his school … there was a shooting in the temple next door."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Solange Reyner

Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.

© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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Actress Melissa Joan Hart helped children flee Nashville's Covenant School after Monday's deadly shooting. "My kids go to school right next to a school where there was a shooting today," Hart said in an Instagram video posted Tuesday.
melissa joan hart, nashville, shooting
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2023-45-29
Wednesday, 29 March 2023 11:45 AM
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