An
Alabama elementary school community is celebrating the bravery of a
fifth-grade girl who shielded two younger students from gunfire with her
body and got them home safely.
J’Nay
Bailey, 11, was walking the kindergartner and first-grader home from
Montview Elementary School in Huntsville when the gunshots rang out
about 2:45 p.m. on Sept. 30.
“I
heard a pop, and I thought they were just doing the electrical work,”
J’Nay told the Daily News. “But when I heard several shots, I grabbed
them and made them get down. I put my jacket and my body over them.”
After
the shooting ceased, J’Nay told the sisters, Kenzie and Kalynn Hastie,
to run home, go inside, lock their doors and just stay there until their
mother came home, according to the school’s principal, Towana Davis.
“Her whole thing was to make sure that they were protected,” Davis said.
Davis
was not surprised that J’Nay, whom she called an “outstanding student,”
had the presence of mind to act swiftly and consider the safety of
others.
J’Nay
credits the school’s “Leader in Me” program with giving her the
confidence and know-how to display grace under pressure. It teaches
students the seven habits of highly successful people, which include
being proactive, Davis said.
The
drug-related shooting put Montview Elementary on lockdown until the
police department let school officials know that the danger had passed.
The city school board honored J’Nay with a certificate for “great courage,” and her actions were covered by local media.
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