According to authorities, three children and three adults were slain in a shooting at a private Catholic school in Nashville.
Two cops fatally shot the shooter, who authorities identified as a white 28-year-old from the Nashville area. The shooter was designated female at birth and used he/him pronouns, a police spokesperson subsequently informed WPLN’s Alexis Marshall.
The incident took place at The Covenant School. The three children who died were students, and the three adults who perished were staff members, according to a news briefing held by the Nashville Police Department on Monday.
According to the school’s website, Koonce was the head of the institution.
The initial call arrived at 10:13 a.m. Aaron stated that the shooter “entered the school through a side entrance and traversed from the first to the second floor while firing multiple shots.”
Monday evening, police in Nashville uploaded images of the scene. According to the police, the shooter entered the building by shattering the door’s glass. Once on the second floor, the shooter fired from a window towards oncoming police vehicles.
The shooter was armed with two assault-style rifles and one pistol, according to investigators, and the shooting occurred in a “lobby-like area” of the school’s upper level. Aaron said that the shooter was deceased by 10:27 a.m. Two of these firearms were legally obtained, according to police.
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The shooter was a former pupil, according to the police, although no motive has been specified. Monday afternoon, officials identified the shooter as Nashville resident Audrey Hale. Hale had no prior convictions.
Hale possessed many rounds of ammunition and was “prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement,” according to John Drake, the Nashville police chief. He stated that the shooter had made maps of the school’s entrances.
Drake stated that the parents of the deceased youngsters had been notified. Earlier, he stated, “I was literally moved to tears to see this and the children being escorted out of the building.”
At least five individuals were brought to Vanderbilt University Medical Center emergency rooms. A hospital official confirmed to NPR that three children and two adults admitted to the hospital had passed away.
Aaron stated that he was unaware of any further victims from the shooting. He stated that a responding cop sustained a cut from broken glass.
The Aftermath of the Nashville Shooting
A reunification center for parents and students with access to mental health specialists was established nearby.
According to its website, The Covenant School is a private preschool through sixth-grade institution affiliated with the Covenant Presbyterian Church. Aaron stated that on an average day there would be approximately 209 pupils and 42 staff members at the school.
Nashville has joined the “dreaded, long list” of cities and towns that have had school shootings, according to Mayor John Cooper.
State Representative Bob Freeman, whose district contains the school, described the incident as “an unfathomable tragedy for the victims, all the children, families, teachers, and staff, as well as for my entire community. I reside around the corner from Covenant and frequently pass by it. There are friends there who attend both church and school. In the past, I have also visited the church. It breaks my heart to watch this,” reported WPLN.
Nashville-representing state senator Jeff Yarbro tweeted, “My heart breaks for the Covenant families. As a parent, I simultaneously hurt for them and share their anger that fear of this kind of catastrophe has become an accepted part of what it means to raise children in modern society.”
President Biden spoke of the shooting in Nashville as “sick” and “heartbreaking,” describing it as “every family’s worst nightmare.”
“We must do more to prevent gun violence. It is tearing our communities apart and tearing at the very soul of our country,” he declared at the White House.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, 130 mass shootings have occurred in the United States this year.
