CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — One week ago, a young boy’s life was changed while he waited for his school bus in Cleveland County. His parents were shot in front of him, and his mother died.
In an exclusive interview, Eyewitness News reporter Ken Lemon spoke with the school bus driver who saved the boy from the scene.
"I never expected something like that,” bus driver Brandy Donaldson.
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Tears rolled down Donaldson's face as she spoke about the incident last week -- the bus stop she will never forget -- because of a boy who witnessed what no child should see.
At first, she couldn't see much in the dark and couldn't hear the boy over the loud bus engine.
"He kind of walks halfway towards the bus and hollers, 'Help me. My mom and dad has been shot', and he's terrified,” Donaldson said.
Investigators said Robert Bridges shot and killed his neighbor, Myla Oaks, and critically wounded her husband, Jeff.
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"He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to leave them, but I knew I couldn't leave without him,” Donaldson said.
She couldn't see the shooter and pleaded until the student at Kings Mountain Intermediate School got on the bus.
"That was the last time he ever seen his mother,” Donaldson said.
She drove off and kept her promise to call 911 at the next stop.
However, she still cannot forget the look on the boy’s face.
"I'd really like to see him again, because the last thing on my mind is this little boy in terror,” Donaldson said.
Lemon spoke with the grandmother of the child and she wanted to relay one message to Donaldson: “Thank you for being there when he most needed someone.”
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