A mom who lived through a 2001 campus shooting talked her son through the Bend attack

A Bend mother spent years bracing for the day her own kids might face what she faced as a teenager. Last week it happened. Her son was inside Silver Rail Elementary when a gunman opened fire.

The woman, identified only as Michelle, shared her story with CNN.

A fear that never left

Michelle was a freshman at a California high school in 2001 when a gunman attacked her campus. She told the network the experience stayed with her for decades.

She said she learned to look for the exits in every room she entered. She picked seats that faced the door. Anxiety plus panic attacks followed her into adulthood.

Once she became a parent that worry turned toward her children. Every school drop-off came with a knot of dread.

The call she feared most

On Thursday a 16-year-old identified as Griffin J. John II walked into Silver Rail Elementary with a pump-action shotgun. Three children ages 5, 8 and 11 were killed along with a 25-year-old teacher.

Michelle's son is a fifth grader there. She was out to eat at an Olive Garden when her Apple Watch lit up with his call.

"Mom, there's a shooter," she recalled him saying. She could tell from his voice that something was terribly wrong.

She told him she loved him. Then she told him to stay silent. She ended the call so she could dial 911 before she raced toward the school.

Texts while she drove

Michelle kept messaging her son. She wrote that police were on the way to help him. She also kept telling him she loved him.

He made it out alive. Like his mother 25 years earlier he survived a school shooting.

The gunman was shot dead inside the building by Kaylub Giamanco, a good Samaritan. Police have not said what drove the attack.