Mary Mercer brings new meaning to the word “hardbody.”
WINNFIELD/ALEXANDRIA – Mary Mercer brings new meaning to the word “hardbody.”
Fourteen teenagers were in First Baptist Winnfield’s bus driven by Mercer, and on their way to the Monday evening session of the Youth Evangelism Conference when a bullet smashed through the glass door and glanced off Mercer’s right side.
“I was driving along and I heard something and felt something and at first I thought one of the kids had popped a balloon,” Mercer said in her recall of the Nov. 24 scare. “I looked over and there was a bullet hole in the door, and the glass was shattered from top to bottom.
“When I realized it was a shot, and I knew I had felt something, I thought, ‘Am I bleeding? Am I going to live long enough to get these kids to safety?’”
She pulled over when she felt she was far enough from the shooter for the teens – including her daughter Kaitlyn – to be safe.
The 15-passenger bus she was driving was the first in a caravan of four vehicles on its way from the Hampton Inn north of Pineville to the Alexandria Coliseum. The shot rang out as she passed two houses and a trailer no more than two minutes from the hotel, Mercer said. When she pulled over, so did the other First Winnfield vehicles.
A report of the incident was made that night to the North Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Department, but as of press time they reported no leads.
“My concern was the children,” said Mercer, who teaches first grade special ed at Winnfield Primary School. “I just did what I had to do. I’m just thankful to the Lord everything turned out all right.”
Other adults in the caravan that night offered to drive her bus, but Mercer – scared but without even a bruise to show for the “thunk” she’d received (evidently the bullet’s power was spent after going through the door’s thick glass) – elected to drive to and participate in YEC’s evening service, as she has for at least four years.
“I thought [during the service] about how thankful I was, so very very thankful none of them [the teens on the bus] were hurt,” Mercer said. “The preacher that night mentioned several times about us being a follower and following what Jesus wanted us to do, and that drove home to me that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing – driving the bus – so I’m going to keep on driving it.
“The youth on my bus were wonderful,” Mercer added. “They were very concerned, very quiet, just doing what they could to take care of me.”