iHeartRadio Music Awards Pays Tribute To 6 Dead In Nashville Shooting: ‘Our Hearts Are Heavy’
‘America: We must do better’, host Lenny Kravitz said on stage at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Read his full statement here.
The 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards made sure to remember the six innocent lives that were taken during a school shooting in Nashville, Tenn. on the morning of Monday, March 27 before kicking things off the sh0w to celebrate today’s music. “I want to take a moment to send some of that healing love to the families and the innocent people that lost their lives at the Covenant school today and to the entire Nashville community,” the show’s host, Lenny Kravitz, began. “Our hearts are heavy and we are with you. Nashville, we love you, and America, we must do better … we will do better”
Three students and three staff members were shot to death at a small private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tenn. early Monday morning. The shooter was a 28-year-old Nashville woman who was heavily armed, according to NBC News. Police located the shooter on the second level of Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church and killed her at the scene.
The shooter was a graduate of the school, according to Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake, but he was not sure what year she graduated or when she attended. He also said the victims’ families had been notified, and that the rest of the students were quickly removed from the building to safety after the shooting was confirmed. “Right now I will refrain from saying the ages, other than to say I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building,” he noted. There are approximately 200 students and about 40 to 50 staff members inside the school on any given day, John revealed.
The Nashville Fire Department was on the scene caring for any person that showed signs of life, according to a press conference. A reunification site was set up for parents and children as soon as the school was secured, and “mental health specialists and professionals” were on location. Authorities are currently investigating how the shooting was able to happen.
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As in the past, President Joe Biden urged the government to “do more to stop gun violence” and described the shooting as “heartbreaking, a family’s worst nightmare,” during a White House event for women-owned small businesses. “We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation, ripping at the very soul of the nation,” he stated. “And we have to do more to protect our schools so they aren’t turned into prisons.”
“I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban,” he added after revealing the shooter was carrying two assault weapons and a pistol. “It’s about time that we begin to make some more progress.”
Celebrities also made sure to send their thoughts to the victims and their families via social media posts. “Pray for Nashville. A shooting at a school has occurred. Three children dead. Praying for these babies & their families. Absolutely devastating,” singer Carly Pearce tweeted. Broadway icon and actress Kristin Chenoweth took to Twitter to express her sadness as well. “As a new resident of Nashville, I’m beyond saddened at the events of today,” she wrote. “I pray for all the victims and families involved. Today, it feels as if Nashville lost its innocence.” Actress Jane Lynch tweeted, “We live in a world where is has become acceptable to shoot children dead in school.”