ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Boy's Heart-Breaking Response When Mum Asks Why He's At Front Of School Shooting Drills

Boy's Heart-Breaking Response When Mum Asks Why He's At Front Of School Shooting Drills

His shocking response has gone viral

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A mum's heart-breaking post about her son taking part in preparatory shooting drills at school has gone viral in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting which saw 17 innocent people killed.

In a post on Facebook mum Tanai Benard, an educator from Texas, wrote about asking her 10-year-old son Dezmond if he was taking the school's safety drill seriously, and not using the time to 'goof off' or chat with his pals.

Asking him if he had practiced a 'lockdown drill' in his class, Tanai's little boy replied: "Are you talking about an active shooter drill?" to which she told him she was.

Facebook/Tanai Benard

Reassuring her he practiced it, Dezmond said: "The teacher is supposed to shut and lock the door, put the black paper over the window on the door.

"Then myself and three other boys are supposed to push the table against the door. After that all the class is going to stand behind us on the back wall."

Surprised at his answer, Tanai asked: "The class is supposed to stand behind who?"

At this point, Tanai writes: "Internally went from 0 to 100 real quick. My child is one of only two black children in a class of 23.

"Being transparent, I immediately went to the "why is my black son being put on the front line?" (Just being real) So I asked before I verbally stated my thoughts."

She then asked her son why he was picked to stand in front of the other kids.

Facebook/Tanai Benard

"I didn't get picked," Dezmond replied. "I volunteered to push the table and protect my friends."

Shocked that her son would choose to do this, she asked him why he would volunteer to do that.

Her brave little boy told her: "If it came down to it I would rather be the one that died protecting my friends then have an entire class die and I be the only one that lived."

Bloody hell, is someone chopping onions in here? What a little hero.

Finishing the post, the mum-of-three wrote: "Father God, it took everything out of me not to breakdown. I still have a lump in my throat. 10 damn years old and this has to be our babies thought process in America."

The heart-wrenching post has since had 323,000 reactions, thousands of comments and has been shared over 150,000 times.

Featured Image Credit: Facebook

Topics: School shooting, Community, USA