PERRY, Iowa — Rick Gates has spent two decades as the pastor of Crossroads Church in Perry, Iowa, and years as a bus driver for the Perry Community School District.
Gates was running his usual route on Thursday, picking up high school, middle school and elementary school students, moments before a school shooter opened fire at Perry High School, killing 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and injuring seven others — including the school's principal, two other staff members and four students.
Gates dropped off a few students at the high school, and then took the rest of the students on the bus to the elementary school.
However, when he arrived at Perry Elementary School, the principal came running out telling Gates and the rest of the bus drivers they'd have to hold the elementary school students inside the bus, because "something" was going on at the middle and high school campus.
"I certainly couldn't tell the kids anything other than: 'We're just going to wait here for a bit,'" Gates told Local 5. "My heart was so heavy, knowing that they were going to be getting off of my bus, and going inside. Especially because when they were going in, they had 'em run, which is different, because they normally force them to walk."
Elementary students were allowed to go in the school after 15 to 20 minutes of waiting.
Gates said as he watched those elementary students finally go inside the school, he thought to himself: "They're going to go in, and their worldview is going to change."
Once the last of the students left his bus, Gates said he couldn't maintain his emotions.
"I cried like a baby for a bit," Gates said. "Because I just hurt for those kids, the administrators, the students at the high school. The ones arriving and hearing news, and finding out perhaps some of their friends were hurt. And for many of them it was some of their friends."
After taking time to collect himself and get back home later in the day, Gates turned to his other job: being a pastor the Perry community looks to.
And after Thursday's shooting, the community needs Gates more than ever.
He said it's been hard to figure out what the message will be at Sunday's service, but with some assistance from his wife, Gates decided to base his service message on a scripture from 1 Corinthians, which says: "Now we see in a mirror dimly, then we shall see face-to-face."
And Gates told Local 5 this means there's a day coming when we'll see reality very clearly.
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For anyone living in Perry, the surrounding communities or across the nation following along with this story, the grieving process is different for everyone and we may not be able to "see reality very clearly" yet. But Gates said that's OK.
If you need someone to talk to pray with, Gates said he will personally talk and/or pray on the phone with any of you. If you'd rather meet in person, he said he can meet with you himself, or help you connect with someone else who also cares.
For other recovery resources, visit our story here.