NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — “We felt helpless.”

Those are the words from a surgeon at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. 

Dr. Joseph Fusco fought to save the three youngest victims in Monday’s mass shooting at The Covenant School. However, nothing could be done. 

“It started off as just really a normal morning of us rounding on all the patients that we have in the hospital with the fellows and the residents,” Dr. Fusco said. 

It was the calm before the chaos.  

Five of the six victims were rushed to Vanderbilt. The three children were transported to Monroe Carell. 

“It’s really, really difficult,” Dr. Fusco said. 

According to Dr. Fusco, by the time the three young patients came into the emergency department, there was very little that could be done. 

“That’s the really hard part. We really felt helpless. There’s not much that we could do for those patients…I’ve never seen something so devastating where we have children losing their lives. Just sheer devastation,” Dr. Fusco said. 

And now, all of Nashville is hurting. It’s pain that goes beyond the emergency room — pain that is met with sorrow.   

“I can’t say how sorry I am that these families are having to go through something like this. It’s horrible. It’s something that no one ever deserves,” Dr. Fusco said. “I wish we could have helped more. It’s just such a difficult tragedy and terrible for our community, for the families, for everyone here.”