Was Kelsea Ballerini in a school shooting? Country star delivers emotional tribute to Nashville victims at CMT awards

Country music star Kelsea Ballerini delivered a powerful and emotional tribute to Nashville school shooting victims at the CMT awards on Sunday.

The shooting which took place at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, last week claimed the lives of 6 people, including 3 children. Ballerini took the names of all six victims who “walked into the Covenant School and didn’t walk out” as she spoke directly to the camera. She broke down in tears as she said, “The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast.”

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Was Kelsea Ballerini in a school shooting?

Ballerina then revealed that she was once part of a school shooting that claimed the life of her former high school classmate Ryan McDonald.

She attended the Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where a shooting took place in a crowded cafeteria, in full view of several other students, including Ballerini in August 2008. “I wanted to personally stand up here and share this moment because, on August 21, 2008, I watched Ryan McDonald, my 15-year-old classmate at Central High School, lose his life to a gun in our cafeteria,” Ballerini said as she recalled the horrific event in her life. ‘

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The country star, who hosted the show with Kane Bown, also decided to dedicate the event to the families, friends, survivors, witnesses, and responders whose lives have been impacted by violence. “Tonight’s broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of families, friends, survivors, witnesses and responders whose lives continue to forever be changed by gun violence,” she said. “I pray deeply that the closeness and the community that we feel through the next few hours of music can soon turn into action, like real action, that moves us forward together to create change for the safety of our kids and our loved ones.”