Paying tribute. Kelsea Ballerini honored victims of the Nashville, Tennessee, Covenant School shooting at the start of the 2023 CMT Awards on Sunday, April 2. CMT Music Awards 2023: See the Full List of Nominees Read article “On March 27, 2023, three 9-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs along with Dr. Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill walked into Covenant School and didn’t walk out,” the “Blindsided” songstress, 29, said as the broadcast began. “The community of sorrow over this and the 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone stretches from coast to coast,” Ballerini, who cohosted the CMT Music Awards with Kane Brown, added. “I wanted to personally stand up here and share this moment, because on August 21 2008, I watched Ryan McDonald, my 15-year-old classmate at Central High School, lose his life to a gun in our cafeteria. Tonight’s broadcast is dedicated to the ever-growing list of families, friends, survivors,