What is known about the shooting at the Nashville elementary school

The three-year-old teen who opened fire at a Christian Elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, killed by a male shooter

Police in Nashville are investigating the background and motives of a former student who entered a Christian Elementary school armed with guns and opened fire, killing three children and three adults.

Police have referred to Hale as the “female shooter” and at an evening press conference added that Hale was transgender. When CNN asked about Hale’s use of male pronouns on her social media profile, a spokeswoman told them that Hale used male pronouns.

Hale, who attended the Christian school years ago, left writings that pertain to the shooting and had scouted a second possible attack location in Nashville, “but because of a threat assessment by the suspect – there’s too much security – they decided not to,” police chief said.

After the shooter was killed, the children were evacuated from the school and taken in buses to be reunited with their families. Children walking out of the school together with some community members embracing.

“I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building,” the police chief said during a Monday news conference.

In the minutes that followed, three children were killed – Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs – and two more adults – substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school.

Shaundelle Brooks, who lost her son Akilah DaSilva during a 2018 mass shooting at a Nashville-area Waffle House, said she was brought back to that painful moment as her other son was placed on lockdown at a nearby school Monday.

The Shooting of a High-Security, Active Shooter at the Covenant Presbyterian Church: Michael Hill, 50, a Custodian

The shooter was “someone that had multiple rounds of ammunition, prepared for confrontation with law enforcement, prepared to do more harm than was actually done,” the police chief said in a news conference.

Hale legally bought seven firearms that were hidden at his home, according to Drake. Three of those weapons were used in the attack.

Police said in a news release that they confronted the shooter, who had fired through a window at police cars. Two officers then opened fire, killing the shooter at 10:27 a.m., police spokesperson Don Aaron said.

“I was hoping this day would never ever come here in the city. But we will never wait to make entry and to go in and to stop a threat especially when it deals with our children,” Drake said in a Monday news conference.

“This school prepared for this with active shooter training for a reason. We don’t like to think that this is ever going to happen to us. But experience has taught us that we need to be prepared because in this day and time it is the reality of where we are,” Nashville Metropolitan Councilman Russ Pulley told CNN.

The school website states that the head of the school is someone who got a master’s degree from Georgia State University and attended two other universities.

Mike Hill was identified in the staff section of the Covenant Presbyterian Church’s website, which is now offline. He was identified as a facilities/kitchen staff. A friend of Mike Hill has confirmed his identity to CNN. Hill, 61, was a custodian at the school, per police.

“Law enforcement is conducting its investigation, and while we understand there is a lot of interest and there will be a lot of discussion about and speculation surrounding what happened, we will continue to prioritize the well-being of our community. We are incredibly grateful to the first responders who acted quickly to protect our students, faculty and staff, aswell as the hundreds of others who have supported us. As our community copes with the terrible tragedy, we wish to keep privacy as we come to terms with it.

The Nashville, Tenn., school shooting occurred after an armed assailant opened fire on a young person at the Covenant Presbyterian Church

The Covenant Presbyterian Church founded the Covenant School in 2001 as a private Christian school for preschoolers and 6th graders, according to its website.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper said he is “overwhelmed at the thought of the loss of these families, of the future lost by these children and their families.”

A recent study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics in December backs that point, finding that homicide is a leading cause of death for children in the United States and the overall rate has increased an average of 4.3% each year for nearly a decade.

Biden said Congress needs to pass an assault weapons ban because we “need to do more to protect our schools.” However, a bipartisan solution is extremely unlikely this Congress with a slim Democratic majority in the Senate and a GOP-led House.

Nashville, Tenn., authorities on Tuesday released graphic body camera footage showing the fatal confrontation between police and an armed assailant who attacked a grade school on Monday morning.

Six people — including three children — were killed in the shooting, and the suspected attacker was killed by police within minutes of the first call of an active shooter.

The massacre drew messages of sympathy from politicians, including President Biden and others across the U.S., and it reignited calls for Congress to do more to prevent school shootings.

Hale was referred to by police as a female shooter and at the evening news conference added she was a trans woman. When asked to clarify, a Hale spokesman said that Hale used male pronouns on his social media profile.

Engelbert, Collazo, and Drake: The two officers from the school shooting at 10:27 a.m. after the first emergency call

There are two children that are not accounted for, as seen in the body-worn cameras of officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, when they arrive at the school.

She tells him, “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.” She also describes the layout of the school and says children are upstairs.

A group of five officers enter the school after the officer opens a door, wailing fire alarm and going into classrooms to look for the suspect.

The gunfire grew louder, and Engelbert entered the building to see a person standing near a window. A shooter falls down after being fired at four times.

There are two veteran police officers, both four-year veterans, and one nine-year veteran. The officers shot and killed Hale at 10:27 a.m. — 14 minutes after the first emergency call.

Drake said the two officers were trying to make sense of what happened after the shooting. Drake said Biden told him he intended to make contact with officers as well.

Drake said during a Tuesday press briefing that the shooter had legally purchased seven firearms from five local gun dealers. There were three weapons used in Monday’s attack.

The Shooting Message of Averianna Patton to a Close Family, Friends and Family during the First Ever Shooting in Nashville, Tenn.

Some parents woke up without their children, others without their parents and others without their loved ones as Tennessee was ravaged by yesterday’s shooting.

The shooter sent a disturbing Instagram message to a childhood friend just before 10 a.m. Monday, saying “I’m planning to die today” and that it would be on the news, the friend Averianna Patton told CNN on Tuesday.

A radio host in Nashville told CNN she was the shooter’s basketball teammate but they hadn’t spoken in years and were unsure why she received the message. Patton said she then called a suicide prevention line and the Nashville Davidson County Sheriff’s Office at around 10:13 a.m.

The attack was planned and calculated according to writing left behind by Hale. The shooter had a drawing of how to enter the building and “assaults that would take place,” Drake said at a Tuesday news conference.

Hale graduated from Nossi College of Art & Design in Nashville last year, the president of the school confirmed to CNN. Hale worked as a freelance graphic designer and a part-time grocery shopper, a LinkedIn profile says.

The Yell-Stop Shooting at the Collier Elementary School: Collazo, Koonce, and Co., Tent., Jan. 17, 2012

In the video, Collazo yelled “Stop moving!”, and then shoot the person four times with a handgun. The officers then approach the person, move a gun away and radio “Suspect down! Suspect down!”

There is a roughly 11-minute gap between when police got the first call of an active shooter and when they arrive at the school. The police chief told reporters that he had no problem with it. But we always want to get better. There were a lot of things that could have happened if we had gotten there in two or three minutes.

Sissy Goff, one of Koonce’s friends, went to the reunification center after the shooting and suspected something was wrong when she didn’t see Koonce there.

“Knowing her, she’s so kind and strong and such a voice of reason and just security for people that she would have been there in front handling everything, so I had a feeling,” Goff said.

Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends, Cindy Peak, who had been supposed to come over to have dinner with her.

“Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends, Cindy Peak,” the governor said.”Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce were all teachers at the same school and have been family friends for decades,” he added.

The families of the victims have released statements. According to a statement obtained by CNN, Hill was a father of seven children and grandfather of 14 who loved cooking and spending time with his family.

The city of Nashville is planning a vigil on Wednesday night to mourn those lost in the mass shooting, according to Nashville Mayor John Cooper. It will take place at the park at the local time.

The Nashville Tennessee School Shooting What Happened: An Infuriating Story of the First Shooting-Off-the-Screen Michael Hale

The extraordinary videos, which show the officers racing down hallways lined with backpacks and children’s jackets before their confrontation with the suspect, have horrified a nation once again grasping for answers in the wake of another mass shooting.

Standing in front of a side entrance to the school, Hale fired off shots that shattered the glass door, surveillance video shows. Hale can be seen entering through a broken door with three weapons.

Police said that Mike Hill was shot through that door. The 61-year-old, known to the school’s students as “Big Mike,” was among the first killed.

The sound of gunshots can be heard in the hallway. “I think it’s upstairs, it sounds like it’s upstairs,” an officer says in the video. The loud booms come from the police running up the stairwell.

“Suspect down!” Collazo screamed twice into his radio. He told his team to ” Hold the air” after a labored breath, because he wants them to be able to communicate across clear airwaves.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/us/nashville-tennessee-school-shooting-what-happened/index.html

Evelyn Koonce, an educator, tenacious leader, and a friend of mine, lost in a school shooting, and is still under investigation

The community members laid flowers, toys, balloons, and a flower-wrethed cross at a makeshift memorial just outside the school after the tragedy.

“Our hearts are completely broken,” Evelyn’s family said in a statement. “We cannot believe this has happened. Evelyn was the light in this world.

A statement from Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas claims that Hallie was the daughter of the lead pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church.

According to a statement on the school’s website, Koonce was a member of the faculty for 16 years and is survived by her husband and two children.

“The faculty, staff, and students who worked with her mourn the loss of a dedicated educator, a tenacious leader, and a dear friend,” the statement said.

Koonce’s friend and former colleague Jim Lee told CNN he and his wife flew to Nashville after learning she had been killed. They said that she was a witty character, but also a fierce administrator.

She was a person of grace and she had this amazing confidence. “She was an educator, but she also had great pastoral and counseling and nurturing skills – or she had those CEO skills that could tell you that you need to kind of get in your place.”

“I have watched school shootings happen over the years and never thought I would lose a loved one over a person trying to solve a temporary problem with a permanent solution,” she said.

When asked specifically whether Hale had targeted the school for religious reasons, Drake said he couldn’t confirm. He added that police are working with the FBI to fully examine Hale’s writings.

The Nashville School Shooting Covenant Hale: Why Should the Monday Mass Shooting Happen Again? An Address to Sen. Josh Hawley

Similarly, being under a doctor’s care alone wouldn’t have met the threshold to prohibit the sale of weapons to Hale. When it comes to emotional duress, Tennessee law only prohibits the sale of guns to those found by a court to pose a danger to themselves or others.

In Tennessee, there’s no red flag laws, so police would’ve been able to get the weapons they needed if they’d received a report of Hale threatening to kill someone.

On Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., took that to mean the attack was “targeted, that is, against Christians” and began calling for federal agencies to investigate the shooting as a hate crime.

The Gun Violence Archive states that the Monday mass shooting is one of 130 that have taken place this year. Lawmakers conceded once more that Monday’s act of violence won’t make a difference in the gun reform debate.

On Tuesday, President Biden followed his consistent call for an assault weapons ban with a rhetorical question: “Why do I keep saying this if it’s not happening?” he asked.

He didn’t think we should do anything other than mess things up. I don’t think you will be able to stop gun violence. They’ve got to change their hearts.

“We can all agree on one thing, that every human has great value. Tennessee’s governor, a Republican, said in a Tuesday evening video address that he would act to prevent this from happening again.

He didn’t clarify what that action would look like. Lee was against gun control and has called on every school to have a resource officer on campus.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/29/1166804786/nashville-school-shooting-covenant-hale

On the Status of the Tennessee Ruby Red State as an Gun-Friendly State, and an Attorney General’s Order Deciding the Birthright of a Baby

If anything, the ruby red state appears to be leaning further into its reputation as a gun-friendly state. As Nashville mourned and protested on Tuesday, a federal judge quietly paved the way for Tennessee to drop its legal carry age from 21 to 18.