Kelsey Ballerini opened the CMT (Country Music Television) Music Awards Sunday with a moving tribute to the victims of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
“On March 27, 2023, three children aged nine — Evelyn Dickhouse, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs, along with Katherine Koons, Cynthia Peake, and Mike Hill — entered Covenant School and did not leave,” Ballerini said solemnly at the top. Show.
“The public is mourning this and the 130 mass shootings in the US alone this year stretching from coast to coast,” Ballerini continued.
According to authorities, a gunman entered the primary school with three guns blazing on Monday, killing six people before being shot dead by officers. The attack was the deadliest school shooting in nearly a year.
Ballerini also spoke about his personal experience witnessing the death of a classmate in a shooting at his high school in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“I want to stand here and share this moment because, on August 21, 2008, I witnessed Ryan McDonald, a 15-year-old classmate from Central High, be gunned down in our cafeteria.”
He added that Sunday’s show “is dedicated to the growing list of family, friends, survivors, witnesses, and supporters whose lives have been forever changed by gun violence.”
Kane Brown and Ballerini hosted the CMT Awards on Sunday. This is the first year that the CMT Awards have been held in Austin, Texas, after being held in Nashville.
