Hero 6th-grader comforted younger students when gunman opened fire: ‘Take deep breaths and think of something happy’

A heroic sixth-grader comforted younger pupils when a gunman opened fire in their tiny California Christian school Wednesday — even as she feared for her own life.

Jocelyn Orlando stepped up to help despite her own terror as the shooter struck — critically wounding a 5 and 6-year-old — just feet away from her at Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo.

“I was thinking to myself, what if I get shot, what will happen to my family and me,” she told CBS13.

She heard the gunshots and screams as she and others were returning from lunch recess. Swallowing her fears, the sixth grader stepped up to try and calm the younger students panicking around her.

“I told the kindergarteners to take deep breaths — just think of something happy,” Jocelyn said. 

“I told the little graders to close their eyes and cover their ears” as the gunman was menacingly “pacing back and forth from the window.”

The shooter, who has yet to be identified, managed to strike the two young boys, before turning the gun on himself.

“It was really, really sad,” the brave sixth-grade witness said.

The shot boys were taken to a hospital, one by helicopter in “extremely critical condition,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said.

The gunman had gained access to the school — which only has 35 students — for a meeting with the principal about potentially enrolling a student. 

“Shortly after concluding that meeting, the principal heard shots being fired, heard screams, and that’s when they determined or found that the two students had been shot,” Honea said.

He is not believed to have any connection to the school or the students — but may have targeted the school because of its affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

The One In Five Foundation For Kids, formerly The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, announced on Thursday that they would be awarding Orlando with an award for her courage during the shooting, CBS13 reported.