Reporter covering Nashville massacre shares she survived 2010 school shooting

A Nashville local news reporter opened up to viewers while covering the Covenant School massacre Monday, sharing her own ties to gun violence. “Many of you might not know this, but I am actually a school shooting survivor,” WSMV4 reporter Joylyn Bukovac told viewers during the live report.

Speaking to the camera a short distance from where a former student opened fire, killing three adults and three children before being shot dead by police, Bukovac shared that the day’s events were “really bringing up some tough memories.” Read more: ‘How is this still happening?’: Mass shooting survivor hijacks Nashville police livestream Bukovac was in Grade 8 at Discovery Middle School in Madison, Ala., in 2010, when a student in the grade above opened fire in a hallway and killed a classmate. “I was actually in the hallway when the gunman opened fire,” she recounted, adding that it took her two years to eventually open up about the traumatic event. “I can’t even describe the shock (after the shooting),” Bukovac said, reminding caretakers to be “very gentle” with the survivors of Covenant School, and to “let them talk when they’re ready.” “I’ve seen exactly what gun violence can do firsthand,” Bukovac said, recounting the fear and shock she experienced while waiting for police to secure the school.

Her outpouring of spontaneous emotion prompted a resident who was listening nearby to give Bukovac a hug. In a follow-up interview with her station, she told viewers that her own experience left her with PTSD, but it also inspired her to become a reporter. “If I could (help) just one family, one person … that would make sharing my story worth it,” she said.