TOLEDO, Ohio — In the wake of the Nashville school shooting that killed six people Monday, people across the country are looking for ways to keep kids safe at school.
For one Sylvania mom, Abeir Elbaba, that has included teaching her 8-year-old son active-shooter drills at home and outfitting him with a specially-equipped backpack design to protect him from gunfire.
Elbaba recently posted a Tik Tok video in which her son, Abdallah, practices what he's been taught as the sound of an assault rifle plays in the background.
"Alright, active shooter, let's go, let's go," Eldaba can be heard saying in the video as her son rushes to grab his backpack off the living room floor, retreat to the nearest corner, and put it in front of himself.
"What are you protecting?" she asks
"My head and my chest," Abdallah answers, tucked behind his backpack.
"If someone shoots you in the foot are you going to die?" Eldaba asks.
"Nope," responds Abdallah.
"If someone shoots you in the hand are you going to die?"
"No."
Eldaba has trained the boy to place his backpack in front of himself because it contains two bulletproof plates, one for rifle-caliber weapons and the other for pistol-caliber rounds.
While Abdallah is only in second grade, Eldaba said the shooting in Nashville. which left three grade school children dead, convinced her it's never too early to prepare him for the unthinkable.
"When I send my son off, it's the feeling of uncertainty that really gets to me," she said. "I just want to send my son off, and know he's going to be safe, he's going to be protected, and if anything happens he's going to be covered."
For Abdallah, having a plate in his backpack, and the training that comes with it, has become as normal as playing his Xbox.
But he also knows not everyone is doing it, and that makes him frustrated.
"Because my other friends might have a chance to die," Abdallah said.
Almost a million people have viewed the training video on Tik Tok and the response from viewers has been complex.
"They were like, 'I can't believe it's come to this? How can 8-year old get all these feelings, and not get so scared?" Eldaba said. "No one was outraged, they felt bad. And they said, only in America, and they kept saying that. And they also said, good job mom, you prepared your kid."
Eldaba said while she's happy to buy the bulletproof plates for her son, schools should be making them a part of their budgets, saying they should provide 30 in every classroom.
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