A group of eighth graders from Churchill Junior High are safe after leaving the U.S. Capitol’s Visitor Center approximately 15 minutes before gun shots were fired this afternoon.
Annika Spring is an eighth grader on the trip who tells WGIL that group made of 28 students and three chaperones had just left the visitor’s center after a tour of the Capitol.
They were out front waiting for their bus to pick them up when they noticed something strange.
“Capitol police started to clear the lawn as D.C. police secured the perimeter,” Spring says. “We saw a helicopter fly above us and then emergency vehicles were coming from all different directions. We were kind of shocked. No one really knew what was going on.”
When chaperoning teachers realized what was going on they told students to text their parents to let them know they were safe.
Churchill teacher and chaperone Ginny Crowl says she feels fortunate because they were ahead of schedule and says they easily could have still been inside.
“It was a good learning experience,” Crowl says. “It was far enough away yet close enough to make you realize this stuff’s real. It’s happening all around us but far enough away that we didn’t have to experience it first hand.”
Crowl doesn’t expect the shooting to interfere with the rest of their itinerary except a group photo in front of the White House might be scrapped due to the White House being on lock down.
The group is expected remain in D.C. through Wednesday.
