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Paying tribute. Kelsea Ballerini<\/strong><\/a> honored victims of the Nashville, Tennessee, Covenant School shooting at the start of the 2023 CMT Awards on Sunday, April 2.<\/p>\n \u201cOn March 27, 2023, three 9-year-olds \u2014 Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs \u2014 along with Dr. Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill walked into Covenant School and didn\u2019t walk out,\u201d the \u201cBlindsided\u201d songstress, 29, said as the broadcast began.<\/p>\n \u201cThe community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast,\u201d Ballerini, who cohosted the CMT Music Awards with Kane Brown<\/strong><\/a>, added. \u201cI 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. Tonight\u2019s 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. I pray, deeply, that the closeness and the community we feel for the next few hours through of music can soon turn into action \u2014 like real action \u2014 that moves us forward together to create change for the safety of our kids and our loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n The shooting took place on Monday, March 27, when Audrey Hale opened fire at the private school. The 28-year-old killed three children and three staff members before being fatally shot by Metropolitan Nashville Police Department officers.<\/p>\n Shortly after the incident, President Joe Biden<\/strong> <\/a>called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban. \u201cWe have to do more to stop gun violence,\u201d the former Delaware senator, 80, said during a women\u2019s business summit held at the White House. \u201cIt\u2019s ripping our communities apart. It\u2019s ripping at the very soul of the nation. We have to do more to protect our schools so they aren\u2019t turned into prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Jill Biden<\/strong><\/a>, for her part, addressed the shooting while speaking with conference of city leaders in Washington D.C. later that day. \u201cI am truly without words. Our children deserve better,\u201d the first lady, 71, said. \u201cWe stand \u2014 all of us \u2014 we stand with Nashville in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n Celebrities have also used their voices to condemn the violence in the wake of the tragic event. Jana Kramer<\/strong> <\/a>\u2014 who lives in Nashville \u2014 confirmed that her two children were safe<\/a> after the shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cJolie and Jace are okay,\u201d the One Tree Hill<\/em> <\/a>alum 39 \u2014 who shares 7-year-old daughter Jolie and 4-year-old son Jace<\/a> with ex-husband Mike Caussin<\/strong> <\/a>\u2014 wrote via Instagram on Monday.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cMy heart is absolutely breaking for the children and families right now. Why. Why. Why. I just will never understand. Please pray.\u201d<\/p>\n Melissa Joan Hart<\/strong><\/a>, meanwhile, revealed that she and husband Mark Wilkerson<\/strong><\/a> helped a group of young students evacuate to safety amid the shooting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe helped a class of kindergarteners across a busy highway that were climbing out of the woods and were trying to escape the shooter situation at their school,\u201d the Sabrina the Teenage Witch<\/em><\/a> alum, 46, said in a Tuesday, March 28, Instagram video. \u201cWe helped all these tiny little kids cross the road and get their teachers over there, and we helped a mom reunite with her children.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The Drive Me Crazy<\/em> actress added that her and Wilkerson\u2019s kids<\/a> attend the \u201cschool right next to\u201d Covenant School. \u201cI don\u2019t know what to say anymore. Enough is enough,\u201d she said. Hart and Wilkerson, 46, share sons Mason, 17, Braydon, 15, and Tucker, 10.<\/p>\n The New York native noted that it was her family\u2019s \u201csecond experience\u201d being in \u201cclose proximity\u201d to a school shooting. \u201cWe moved here from Connecticut, where we were in a school a little ways down from Sandy Hook,<\/a>\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n The tragedy was also too close to home for Jessie James Decker<\/strong><\/a>, who shared in a Monday Instagram Story that the school is \u201conly two miles up the road\u201d from her home. \u201cIt\u2019s in our town. It\u2019s in our community. It is just awful. I\u2019m just heartbroken for these families<\/a>,\u201d the country singer, 34, said.<\/p>\n Shawn Johnson<\/strong><\/a>, for her part, opened up about her kids\u2019 school \u2014 which she described as \u201cright in the vicinity\u201d of Covenant \u2014 getting put on lockdown the day of the shooting.<\/p>\n Sign up for Us Weekly’s free, daily newsletter<\/a> and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOur babies are now home with us. I feel lucky and blessed but still so incredibly sad<\/a>. No parent or family should ever have to deal with this,\u201d the Olympic gymnast, 31, wrote via her Instagram Story on Monday. \u201cToday has changed me.\u201d Johnson shares daughter Drew, 3, and son Jeff, 20 months, with husband Andrew East<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n