Mom’s ‘gut feeling’ saved me from 1988 school shooting

Jake Johnson has his mother’s intuition to thank for saving his life.

The “New Girl” alum, 45, revealed on an episode of the “Dope as Usual” podcast that he narrowly missed a school shooting in 1988 when his mom barred him from going to his fourth grade class.

Johnson attended Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois, and on May 20, 1988, a woman named Laurie Dann walked into a second grade classroom and began firing shots.

“I was sitting next to my mom,” Johnson said of how he ended up spared from the traumatic event. “Out of nowhere, my mother turns to me and goes, ‘You’re not going to school tomorrow.’”

The “Minx” star explained that he was set to go on a field trip that next day and begged her to let him go.

He noted that she had a “gut feeling” that she would “never” see him again if he attended that day.

Johnson recalled how Dann, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, “walked into the school wearing a robe and nothing underneath” and went into his classroom.

“The room was empty, she walked through, walked down the hall, walked into another room, shot seven kids, killed one of them. True story,” he said.

“I used to get in a lot of trouble as a kid and I used to always talk, so the teacher pushed me in the far right corner so I sat away from the other kids,” Johnson noted, “and I was right by the door.”

Johnson further said: “My mom cannot explain why she did not want me to go to school … I don’t get it.”

Dann shot six students that day in the school, killing one, 8-year-old Nicholas Corwin.

Dann died by suicide the same day.

Johnson’s latest project is his feature directorial debut, “Self Reliance.” The comedy-thriller recently premiered on Hulu after screening at the 2023 South by Southwest film festival.

The film stars himself, Anna Kendrick, Andy Samberg, Natalie Morales and Christopher Lloyd. The story follows a man who receives an invite to score $1 million by being a part of a reality TV game controlled by the dark web.

Of his choice to dip his toes into the directing world, Johnson told Above the Line earlier this week: “I think I wanted to direct, because I’d spent so many years on different sets with guest directors on TV, and you see how so many different people run a set.”

“The way the director treats people — from the crew to the cast to everybody — it resonates through everybody,” he said.

Johnson added: “The majority of my job is being under somebody else’s tone in terms of being on set, and there’s a way that I like to work and there’s a joy and a lightness. I like jokes. I like people enjoying being at work, and so I wanted to do something where I could try to control that tone and see how it felt.”