'Don't Know What Protected Her Except God': Mom Tells How Daughter Survived Christian School Shooting

March 27 was a day that forever changed the community of Nashville due to the deadly shooting at Covenant Presbyterian School. Six people were killed, including three children.  

After three months, life appears to be back to normal, although it hasn't been easy. 

Nathan Parker serves as senior pastor at Woodmont Baptist Church where parents waited anxiously to see their children that tragic day.

"We went outside and there were already families in our parking lot running towards the door," Parker told CBN News. "Within seconds there were tons of police on site, and they said, 'Where do we put these families, these parents.'" And I said, "I think the sanctuary, the sanctuary would be a good space.'"

It was a space that served as both a physical and spiritual refuge.

"I think the prayers of our saints and saints around the world who were lifting up our church and these families to the Lord during that time, provided a supernatural covering of peace, of calm," explained Parker.  "There were some times of grief, some intense mourning but for the most part it was very peaceful and calm."

Aaron and Mary Joyce joined those who were waiting in the pews, not knowing if their daughter Monroe, a third grader at the school was safe. 

Mary described the fear she felt while waiting.

"My faith was being challenged and it was really hard," she said in an interview with CBN News. "It almost felt like you're trapped in a nightmare."

Once reunited with her parents, it would be weeks before their 9-year-old would open up about how she hid from the shooter firing at fellow students.

"She said, 'Mommy, I was really still and really quiet. Everyone else was crying and I was the only one not crying.'" 
 
"And I still don't know how she wasn't seen," Mary said. "She saw the shooter. She saw the gun sticking through their door just going off. I still don't know what protected her that day except for God."

When asked how Monroe is coping with the tragedy, her mom responded, "Awful."

"Much more triggered. She has moments of sheer terror. To see your child who is a light nine-year-old full of life, goofy, silly – crumble and struggle is awful."

The violence at the Christian school has shattered the community's illusions of safety.

"At this point, it can happen anywhere," Aaron Joyce said.

While the couple is grateful to still hold their daughter, they admit seeing the pain of friends who lost children in the shooting has been unbearable.

"There's this overwhelming feeling of guilt because I knew those children," Mary said. "They've been a part of Monroe's life since she was in kindergarten. I have stories about those children. I have their pictures in my phone from school parties and playdates, and I can't imagine not being able to tuck in my child or squeeze my child."

"I would do anything to give that feeling back to my friends," she added.

It is a pain that Anna Caudill shares. She had been a longtime friend of Katherine Koonce, the head of Covenant school – one of the 6 killed in the shooting.

"I kept thinking, 'Ok well she must be talking to the police at this point or she must still be in the building or she must be making sure the kids are getting on the buses,'' Caudill explained as she watched the news unfold that day.

She remembers Koonce as a selfless, devoted educator and a woman grounded in faith.

"I've described her before and it just really has resonated in my mind again and again as a tree with roots that just reach down so far in her faith," said Caudill. "And branches that provided shade and nurture and sustenance for everyone within her reach."  

As the investigation continues into why former student Audrey Hale carried out the attack, her parents have turned over her so-called manifesto to the Covenant School families. Despite efforts to make the writings public, Covenant parents are fighting to keep them sealed, out of concern about possible copycat shootings.

CBN News asked the Joyces about this push to keep the records sealed, but they declined to answer citing legal reasons.

Deborah Fisher of Tennessee's Coalition for Open Government said if a judge prevents the release of the writings, it would set a bad precedent.

"So the victims and the school and the church want the court to recognize new law to create new law in Tennessee that would allow basically a victim's veto over releasing evidence in a crime or churches or schools or anyone with a property right to veto," said Fisher. "And so we think that that is not the road to go."

In the meantime, many in and around Nashville are turning to God for answers.

"Church attendance throughout this area was boosted in those weeks after the shooting as people turned to the Lord for help; not just for answers, but for comfort, for encouragement, for healing," said Pastor Parker.

Dr. Steven Freeman of Grace Baptist Church in nearby Springfield also sees God moving in a special way.

"We want the Lord to provide hope," said Freeman.  "We pray for the gospel. We pray for even the opportunity through something like this, this tragedy happening, that we can point people to the Lord."

Ministry has been extending to the shooter's family.

"One of the things that stunned me to learn was that the Covenant families had pulled together and paid for the funeral of Audrey Hale, the shooter," Caudill shared after being notified via text message about the decision.

"That is a clear example, one of the finest examples of Christian love that I think could ever be expressed," Freeman said.

Aaron Joyce agreed.

"It's absolutely necessary," said Joyce. "It's the point. She (Hale) was raised not completely in that community, but she was part of it for a minute and unfortunately through degrees at a time got completely lost. I don't think we allow that to sever her parents' need for love."

That's the kind of love that Parker believes can heal the community and overcome any evil.

"In this world, we will have tribulation as Jesus told us, but we can take heart because he has overcome this world. He has overcome all the divisions, all the violence, the injustice. Our hope is in this new heaven, and new earth that he's coming to bring," said Parker.