AceShowbiz - Kelsea Ballerini is still triggered by a 2008 high school shooting incident, which cost a friend his life. The country star was promoting her new poetry collection, "Feel Your Way Through", on CBS Mornings, when she opened up about the drama through tears.

Ballerini was a student at Central High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, when her classmate Ryan McDonald was shot in the chest by a fellow 15-year-old, Jamar Siler, who was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The "Miss Me More" singer had never discussed the incident in public and clearly still has a raw connection to the tragedy, telling the show hosts, "I will cry. I was worried about that..."

"With this particular situation, you know, I've never talked about it before, but as the book was forming I was realizing that if I'm gonna talk about the things that have made me me, I certainly can't avoid this. I've never talked about it before."

Ballerini wrote about the shooting incident in a poem tribute, titled "His Name Was Ryan", and told the news show she watched her friend die.

"His name was Ryan, and he died on the cafeteria floor from a gunshot wound to the chest," the poem reads. "I can't be too sure, but I think I saw him breathe his last breath."

"I'm scared of loud noises, I'm triggered by the news, I'm terrified of guns, I'm sensitive in crowds/But I'm alive/And because of a boy named Ryan, I know what a gift that is."