Joan Grande, the mother of the singer Ariana Grande, whose concert last night was the site of a bombing, was sitting in the front row of her concert at the Manchester Arena when the bomb went off, and she did everything she could to save young concert-goers who were trapped in the stampede. Joan Grande, who is very close with her daughter Ariana, was heading backstage at the time she heard the bomb and ushered some young fans to safety.
Details leaked out through the night last evening when Manchester police announced that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber . Soon they figured out that the bomb was not exploded in the actual auditorium, but rather in the entrance area near the box office, says the Inquisitr. It was there that a 22-year-old suicide bomber with a backpack set off a nail bomb and killed himself and at least 20 others, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. The bedlam separated parents and children, and the local Holiday Inn tweeted that they had many children in their lobby searching for their parents.
Bless yous @ArianaGrande & @joangrande pic.twitter.com/zUTTlqxLbN
— Em | MET HER? (@biiebsmoonlight) May 23, 2017
And while there were many heroes last night in the chaos at the Manchester Arena, Joan Grande is being remembered for her quick-thinking moves to get a group of daughter Ariana’s fans backstage to safety. When the bomb went off, Joan Grande yelled to a bunch of young fans who had been sitting near her in the crowd for Ariana Grande’s show to follow her backstage to safety, according to witnesses. Joan Grande and Ariana’s security team then ushered the group of mostly children to safety. After that, the group that had stayed with Joan Grande backstage were able to safely exit Manchester Arena.
Joan Grande reportedly flew out of England with daughter Ariana as soon as they could to head back home to Boca Raton, Florida, as the family was understandably devastated. Ariana Grande has now suspended her tour in the wake of the attack, telling fans that she is an “emotional wreck.”
Social media has lit up with expressions of gratitude for Joan Grande who put herself in harm’s way to help others at the concert instead of just running to safety herself. Fans posted on Twitter tweets of thanks for Joan.
“Ariana Grande’s mom, Joan Grande rushed fans backstage to safety during the Manchester bombing attack. God bless her.”
Joan Grande is being praised for keeping her wits about her to save her daughter’s fans.
“Shout out to Joan Grande (Ariana’s mom) for helping fans by rushing them backstage.”
The drummer for Ariana Grande’s band said that everyone had left the stage to head to the dressing rooms when they heard the bomb go off. It was shortly after that when they saw Joan Grande bring a group of fans backstage . Joan Grande has not escorted daughter Ariana back to the U.S., but the Grandes and the band are still shaken up by the bombing and the loss of life at the Manchester Arena.
Drummer Aaron Spears says that the memory of the bombing will “live with us forever.”
“We could hear people, we had no idea what it was… there was all kinds of speculation as to what was going on. Like 5 minutes after getting to the room, security came in and informed us that we had to evacuate the building immediately.”
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Spears says that Joan Grande and the band were quickly evacuated, and it was then that they heard that it was believed to be a bomb.
“It was then that we realized this was serious. Initially, we thought that the sound was all kinds of things but it didn’t hit that this was a bomb until we were evacuated and they told us exactly what was going on.”
Spears says that they are all emotionally scarred by the event, and it was even worse because there were so many “little ones” at the show.
“It’s surreal.”
Do you want to send a message to Joan Grande thanking her for the help she gave to fans?
[Featured Image by Jones Crow Tiffany Promo Handout/Getty Images]