By Mark Gray
11:08am PST, Jan 19, 2024
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Jake Johnson's mother — and a field trip — probably saved his life. The "New Girl" star recalled sitting at home one night with his mom when she told him "out of nowhere" that he wasn't going to school the following day. Jake, who was about 10 years old at the time, couldn't understand why his mom felt that way and became upset. However, his mom's "gut feeling" might have saved him from being a casualty in a school shooting.
Keep reading for more on his recent revelation…
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On a January 2024 episode of the "Dope As Usual" podcast, Jake Johnson said, "I was sitting next to my mom, I was in fourth grade. Out of nowhere, my mother turns to me and goes, 'You're not going to school tomorrow.'"
Jake recalled being upset because he was supposed to go on a field trip the following day. His mom eventually relented after realizing that the field trip would prevent Jake from actually stepping foot inside Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois, that following day.
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The day of the field trip — May 20, 1988 — was tragic for Hubbard Woods Elementary School.
"A woman walks into my elementary school through the door that my class was in. A woman walked into the school wearing a robe and nothing underneath. … The room was empty, she walked through, walked down the hall, walked into another room, shot seven kids, killed one of them. True story," Jake Johnson recalled, adding that his empty desk was near the classroom door.
"I used to get in a lot of trouble as a kid and I used to always talk so the teacher pushed me in the far right corner so I sat away from the other kids and I was right by the door," he explained.
If he'd been there that day, he likely would've caught the woman's attention: "I know me, I would have commented. I would have said something. I would have tried to show off. I would have tried to get laughs, there's no question," the actor said.
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Jake Johnson's mom doesn't know what came over her that night before the shooting.
"To this day, my mom cannot explain why she did not want me to go to school," he said.
The actor has brought it up to her several times, and she's always said, "I had a feeling in my gut that if your kid goes to school you're never going to see him again."
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ABC7 Chicago reported that Laurie Dann walked into Hubbard Woods Elementary School on May 20, 1988, and opened fire on a second grade class. Five students (not seven) were injured and one died. Reports said the woman had told students she was there to teach them about guns.
Laurie fled the scene and broke into a local couple's home. There, she took the couple's son hostage and eventually shot him. She then killed herself.
