After Sunday’s killings in Shreveport, Louisiana, preschool routines and graduation preparations collided with grief for teachers and families, Angela Hall said. Hall teaches at Johnnie L. Cochran Head Start and described the everyday classroom practice of noticing who is absent—an approach built to reassure young children. But when Braylon Snow, who had turned 5 and was a student there, was killed Sunday by his father, Hall said she struggled to tell the truth to the children who would notice he was gone.
Hall said she begins the day by gathering her preschool students in a circle so they can share and look for who’s missing. She recalled one of her students speaking Monday: “Braylon, he’s not here.” Hall said the classroom routine made the absence visible immediately, but she was not prepared to explain that the boy she described as a “cool little dude” would not be back.
In her account, Hall kept circle-time moving even as she felt numb and heartbroken. She said she told the children that they could return the next day, and she described the plan for that reassurance: “When they come back tomorrow, we can tell them, ‘Hey, we missed you, we’re glad you’re back’.” Hall said she could not bring herself to say the same kind of “see you tomorrow” message for Braylon.
Hall said she lasted in the classroom until noon and then went home. She also said she needed time alone to grieve, telling reporters, “I’m no good to my babies right now because I just feel like I need to be in a moment of silence and just pray.” She added that she was praying for the dead, for the families, and for educators working with the children.
Before Sunday, Hall said she and the preschool students were focused on what came next. She said preparation for next month’s graduation ceremony had been underway and that she had written a song for the event. She also described children wearing caps and gowns for graduation and learning the words for the ceremony as the school year drew toward kindergarten in the fall.
Hall said Braylon’s progress had been visible as the year continued. She recalled that just the Thursday before the shootings, she pulled his mother aside during morning drop-off and said Braylon was writing his first and last name. Hall said Braylon was also becoming more independent, including helping with food at breakfast and not needing reminders to wash his hands.
She described Braylon as a gentle presence in the classroom, saying he greeted her each day with a small wave and referring to him as “Mrs. Hall.” Hall said he was “for the majority of the time kind of a quiet little soul in the classroom,” and when he had “a little extra energy,” she said it was “just a joy to see him smile and laugh.” She said Braylon enjoyed time outdoors playing games like chase and tag and that he was sometimes “partaking in ‘a little wrassling.’”
Hall said she learned what had happened after church Sunday. She told reporters that she went to her mother’s house after services and stumbled across an article about the shooting. Hall said the number of victims was so high she struggled to comprehend it before she learned Braylon was among the dead, adding that she knew one of his brothers because he had been a Head Start student at the school the prior year.
Hall said that realization made her break down, telling reporters, “I just broke down and just started crying.” She described Monday’s impact at drop-off as well, saying she and another parent locked eyes without being able to speak while preschoolers surrounded them. She said both she and that parent started crying, along with a teacher’s aide.
In the days and hours after the shootings, Hall said she is relying on her faith and on prayer for strength. She said she is praying “for all the educators that were connected to these children,” describing how the people in her classroom feel personally tied to the children they teach. “And I’m just praying that he sustains us all during this time,” Hall said. “Just give us that strength.”