Sunday, August 27th 2023, 11:08 pm
A 13-year-old girl has the football players from Friday's tragic shooting to thank for her safety.
Brianna Shockey said she was at the game with her mother, grandmother and little brother. But, when the shooting happened, she was separated.
"I was shaking and I was scared," Shockey said.
Shockey spoke with News 9 with her parents present during the interview.
"A football player came and grabbed me and one of my friends and took us into the locker room," she said. "And set us down and told us, ‘It’s going to be ok. Calm down. You’ll find your parents.’”
She said the player who helped her was Choctaw's Juju Smith. All the players played a role in helping others get to safety, she said.
“The football players didn’t worry about their safety, they were worrying about elderly safety, kids’ safety, and adult safety," she said. "They would run out of the locker room, after grabbing two or three kids, putting them in there, and then run out and grab more people.”
Shockey was soon reunited in the locker room with her family.
"We had a big hug, and then we had to go into another safe room and that’s when we stuck together, and I did not lose them again.”
Sharon Tarbell, the mother of one of Choctaw's team captains, shared a video with News 9 of Choctaw's team praying on Saturday night, the day after the tragedy. She said the prayer at her house is a good reminder of the positive forces shining through a trying time.
August 27th, 2023
October 3rd, 2023
August 31st, 2023
August 20th, 2024
August 20th, 2024
August 20th, 2024