Three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at a private religious school in Nashville
The shooter, who police said was a white 28-year-old from the Nashville area, was shot dead by two officers. Police initially identified the shooter as a woman but a spokesperson later told WPLN’s Alexis Marshall that the shooter was assigned female at birth and used he/him pronouns.
The shooting occurred at The Covenant School. The three children who died were students, and the three adults who died were staff members, Nashville police spokesperson Don Aaron said in a press briefing Monday.
Authorities identified the victims Monday afternoon : Nashville
Evelyn Dieckhaus, age 9
Hallie Scruggs, age 9
William Kinney, age 9
Cynthia Peak, age 61
Katherine Koonce, age 60
Mike Hill, age 61
Koonce served as the head of the school, according to the school’s website.
The first call came in at 10:13 a.m. The shooter “entered the school through a side entrance and traversed her way from the first floor to the second floor, firing multiple shots,” Aaron said.
On Monday evening, Nashville police posted photos of the scene. Police said the shooter entered the building by shooting out the glass in a door. Once on the second floor, the shooter fired at arriving police vehicles from a window.
The shooter had two assault-style rifles and one pistol, authorities said, and the shooting took place in a “lobby-type area” in an upper part of the school. The shooter was dead by 10:27 a.m., Aaron added. Two of those guns were obtained legally, police said.
Police said the shooter was a former student but have not said anything about a potential motive. On Monday afternoon, police identified the shooter as Audrey Hale of Nashville. Hale had no criminal history.
Hale had multiple rounds of ammunition and was “prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. He said the shooter had maps drawn of the school and its entry points.
Drake said the parents of the children who were killed have been notified. “I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building,” he said earlier.
