Katy Perry Breaks Down, Calls for Gun Control as School Shooting Survivor Auditions for 'American Idol'

A survivor of the 2018 Santa Fe High School mass shooting moved the American Idol judges to tears during his audition Sunday night, and inspired an impassioned plea against gun violence from Katy Perry.

Trey Louis, a 21-year-old mattress salesman from Santa Fe, Texas, wowed the judges with his southern rock twang as he auditioned with "Stone" by Whiskey Myers.

But it was his backstory that moved them most, as Louis was a student at Santa Fe High School when a 17-year-old student shot and killed eight classmates and two teachers, and wounded 13 others in May 2018.

When asked by Luke Bryan why he went out for the show, Louis first explained that he felt as though the ABC series "is kind of where people that I enjoy make it" in the music industry. Then, he revealed additional aspirations.

American Idol Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Luke Bryan

"As I said before, I'm from Santa Fe, Texas. In May 2018 a gunman walked into my school. I was in art room one, and he shot up art room two before he made his way to art room one," he said. "Lost a lot of friends. Eight students were killed. Two teachers were killed. And uh, it's just really been negative, man. Santa Fe's had a bad rap here since 2018."

The tragic reveal immediately moved Perry, Bryan and Lionel Richie, and Perry buried her head in her hands as she began to cry.

"Our country has f---ing failed us," she said, to which Louis responded, "Facts."

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The "Firework" singer continued: "This is not OK. You should be singing here because you love music, not because you had to go through that s—. You didn't have to lose eight friends. I hope that you remind people that we have to change because you know what? I'm scared, too."

At that point, Bryan and Richie comforted the star as Louis told her, "It's terrible, Katy. It's horrible."

Richie weighed in too, saying that as a country, "we have tolerated this for so long — for too long. It's become a norm."

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After Louis agreed to lead change for "myself, for my school, for [Perry]," all three judges gave him a "yes" and a hug, and officially informed him he'd be headed to Hollywood.

Perry has long supported gun control in the United States. In 2021, her song "Teenage Dream" was used in a gun violence PSA created by the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, founded by family members of loved ones killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.