On June 30, 2006, Jesse Lewis was born in Danbury, Connecticut. Tragically, he passed away in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting at the age of only 6 years old. Jesse showed incredible bravery during the attack despite his young age. While the shooter was reloading his weapon, he urged his classmates to run away, ultimately putting his own life in danger to save theirs. He died as a hero.

The Tragedy

On that fateful Friday morning, 6-year-old Jesse McCord Lewis woke up for school like every other school day, got ready, and before leaving for school, he enjoyed breakfast of his favorite sandwich, which included sausage, egg, and cheese, along with a cup of hot chocolate from a nearby deli.

He arrived at school with his classmates, and they all took their seats as Ms. Soto began the day’s lessons. Then, all of a sudden, 20-year-old Adam Lanza began firing an assault rifle from the school’s front door. According to multiple sources’ accounts, they didn’t hear anything until he was in Ms. Rousseau’s class across the hall, where he killed everyone but one after hiding under the bodies of his dead classmates.

After that, he went into Jesse’s class and murdered Ms. Soto while she tried to divert him from the area where the students had hidden before his rifle jammed. Jesse bravely seized a chance after spotting it right away. He yelled to his classmates, who were holding hands and huddled in a corner. Six kids were able to leave the classroom and find safety as a result of his warning.

Investigators later revealed the specifics of what transpired inside the classroom to Jesse’s mother Scarlett Lewis. “He yelled, ‘Run!'” she recalled Jesse yelling in his last moments. Adam fired a headshot at him after reloading. 11 students from Miss Soto’s class made it out alive in total. A closet held five more first-graders hiding.

Twenty first-graders and six staff members were killed in one of the most horrific school shootings in American history on December 14, 2012, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza forcibly entered the building.

Lanza had murdered his mother earlier that day before proceeding to the school where he carried out the shooting. Lanza committed suicide inside the school as law enforcement officers arrived in response to the incident.

Aftermath

However, little Jesse’s bravery and ability to think on his feet as a six-year-old will not be forgotten.Jesse died valiantly while attempting to lead other children to safety.

When he heard the shots, he rushed into the hallway to assist. Because of the way he lived his life, fearlessly, courageously, and with strength, we already knew this in our hearts, his family said at his funeral. “We find solace in the knowledge of the brave young man he was. His actions were in line with the way he lived his life, which was to passionately embrace everything and to do so with the courage and faith of his favorite toy, a small toy soldier.However, Jesse’s bravery and his ability to think quickly for a six-year-old boy cannot be forgotten.Jesse bravely tried to guide other kids to safety before he passed away.

Scarlett Lewis, Jesse’s mother, recently pledged her support to the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation, a group that urges communities to give love precedence over resentment, gratitude over entitlement, and forgiveness and compassion over resentment.

The foundation was sparked by a message that Jesse, Lewis’s son, had written on their kitchen chalkboard, which contained the words “nurturing,” “healing,” and “love.”