A former pupil shot and killed three children and three adults at a school in the Tennessee city of Nashville.
The assault occurred at The Covenant School, a Christian private school for pupils aged three to eleven. The three deceased students were all nine years old.
According to the police, the perpetrator entered the school by shooting through a door while armed with three firearms.
Officers are seen in new video footage racing through the school to locate the shooter.
The names of the juvenile victims are Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney.
The names of the adult victims are Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
Police fatally fired the suspect, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale.
There has been some confusion regarding Hale’s gender identity, with police initially identifying the assailant as female and later stating that Hale identified as transgender.
A police spokesperson told the Washington Post that Hale “is a biological female who used male pronouns on her social media profile.”
Hale, a former pupil at the school who had no criminal record, was believed to have been motivated by “resentment,” according to police.
The shooter was outfitted with three firearms, one of which was a semiautomatic rifle. So the examination of the suspect’s residence resulted in the seizure of additional firearms.
Additionally, police discovered a manifesto, a detailed map of the school, and a plan for additional attacks, including one on a Nashville shopping mall.
Monday morning, at 10:13 a.m. local time, police received the first report of a gunshot. (15:13 GMT).
According to police, the suspect drove to the school and entered by firing through one of the locked school entrances.
Hale shattered the glass panes on the school’s front doors with a gun to obtain entry, then wandered the school’s empty corridors, passing a room labeled “Children’s Ministry”
The shooter is seen donning what appears to be a protective vest and carrying an assault-style rifle in one hand, with a second similar weapon visible on his left hip.
As police vehicles arrived, Hale opened fire, hitting one in the windshield, according to police.
Tuesday’s police body camera footage shows officers racing inside and confronting the suspect. Hale was fatally shot by police at 10:27 p.m. local time.
During an investigation of a nearby residence listed as the shooter’s address, police spoke with the attacker’s father.
There, investigators discovered a manifesto and “a map of how everything was going to unfold,” according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
Additional weapons, including a sawed-off shotgun and a second shotgun, were discovered by the police.
Hale reportedly texted a former middle school basketball teammate 15 minutes before the assault, writing, “I’ve left more than enough evidence behind, but something terrible is about to occur.”
Norma Hale, Hale’s mother, told ABC News, “It is extremely, extremely difficult right now,” before requesting privacy.
The Presbyterian-affiliated Covenant School is located south of downtown Nashville in the upscale Green Hills neighborhood.
Also the school stated in a statement that they are “grieving a tremendous loss and are in shock.”
The mother of one student reported that her son had been traumatized. Shaundelle Brooks told, “I believe he is coping better now that he knows the shooter is dead.”
A memorial service for the victims was conducted at the nearby Woodmont Christian Church hours after the shooting.
Senior pastor Clay Stauffer told the Tennessean that Evelyn Dieckhaus’s 11-year-old sister would be baptised soon.
“I do not want to be an only child,” sobbed Evelyn’s sibling.
President Joe Biden referred to the incident as “every family’s worst nightmare.”
We must do more to stop gun violence,” he stated, urging Congress once more to pass stricter gun control laws. It is tearing apart our communities and tearing at the essence of this nation.
The Gun crime Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun crime, reported the 129th mass shooting in 2023.
According to data compiled by Education Week, there have been twelve school shootings that resulted in fatalities or injuries in the United States so far this year through the end of last week.
