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School shooting survivor auditioning for ‘American Idol’ moves Katy Perry to tears

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ABC

Katy Perry was overwhelmed by grief when an American Idol contestant revealed they are a survivor of the Santa Fe High School shooting.

Trey Louis, who is now 21, performed a soulful rendition of "Stone" by Whiskey Myers for his audition, and he advanced to the next round. While all three judges were impressed by his vocals, he brought them to tears when describing what happened to him on May 18, 2018.

"A gunman walked into my school. I was in art room 1 and he shot up art room 2, before he made his way to art room 1. Lost a lot of friends," Trey said, while looking at the floor. "Eight students were killed. Two teachers were killed."

Trey also expressed how the shooting has painted a negative light on his hometown, adding Santa Fe has had "a bad rap … since 2018."

Katy started sobbing, shouting, "Our country has f***ing failed us!"

As Trey offered words of agreement, the visibly upset singer continued, "This is not OK! You should be singing here because you love music … Not because you had to go through that."

"You don't have to lose eight friends. I hope that you remind people that we have to change because, you know what? I'm scared, too," the mom of 2-year-old Daisy Dove said.

Lionel Richie wiped away tears as he and Luke Bryan comforted Katy and noted, "We have tolerated this for so long — for too long. It's become a norm."

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the country has experienced 92 mass shootings and eight mass murders in 2023. So far this year, firearms have killed 6,705 people.

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