A former middle school basketball teammate says she receiveda message from Hale on Instagram at 9:57 a.m. Monday less than 20 minutes before the first 911 calls from the school. Tim Dunavant, a pastor at HartsvilleFirst United Methodist Church, said Hill wasthe last employee he hired when Dunavant ran the kitchen at the Covenant church and school more than 13 years ago. The assault also marks the 89th shooting on K-12 school grounds in 2023 an average of one every day according to theK-12 School Shooting Database. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. 2:59 PM EDT, Mon April 3, 2023. "Per his family, he took great pleasure and found tremendous joy in his job and through those students.". "The police department response was swift," police spokesman Don Aaronsaid. The suspected shooter, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was fatally shot by officers who responded to the scene at The Covenant School. Most came from the body camera of officer Rex Engelbert. ", 'This is shattering'Nashville officials respond to The Covenant School shooting.
All rights reserved. David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said authorities sent heartfelt prayers to the families of these victims. Officials have not said when they might release the contents of several journals recovered in Hales family home after the attack, in which six people, including three young children, were gunned down. What we know about Covenant School shooting in Nashville. ", "My heart goes out to the families of the victims," Cooper said. Police initially identified Hale by his birth name and gender. Drake said that Hale, who attended Covenant School, had "some history" with the school which may have played a role in the motive for Monday's shooting. Averianna Patton told The Tennessean on Tuesday that she received messages from Hale at 9:57 a.m. while on Covenant School property, apologizing and stating that Hale wanted to die. The footage shows officers arriving at the school, announcing "Metro Police" as they enter the building and some classrooms withrifles raised as alarms ring out. A couple hundred people attended the vigil. President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
6 Killed in Nashville School Shooting, Including 3 Children Drake said investigators believed the shooting stemmed from some resentment the suspect harbored for having to go to that school as a younger person. I think thats a mischaracterization, personally, Rausch said in another interview with Pray In Jesus Name News. ", Nashville Mayor John Cooper thanked first responders and medical professionals in a statement addressing the "tragic morning" that Nashville "joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting. Surveillance video shows him carrying and aiming an assault rifle as he walks hallways. April 12, 2023. Koonce earned a bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, according to the school website. Senators, Mayor John Cooper, and MNPD chief John Drake. "I was literally moved to tears to see this as the kids were being ushered out of the building," Drake said during a news briefing. The video then shows Hale walking in hallways and aiming an assault rifle before the video cuts off. But somehow tomorrow the only thing we will agree on is the traffic. One woman dropped to her knees as she laid a bouquet of flowers down, burying her head in her hands and wiping tears from her eyes. ", Shooting renews gun control push:'How many more classrooms must become crime scenes?'. Hale was an illustrator and graphic designer who used he and him pronouns, according to a police spokesperson. "My heart aches," she said. Mitchell watched out of her classroom window as police and emergency vehicles raced past her school and to the scene, about two miles down the road off Hillsboro Pike. "We're sure that they heard the chaos thatwas surrounding this," she said. Three children and three adults have been killed in a shooting by an ex-student at a school in the US city of Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville school shooting updates: Body cam cops called heroes - USA Today Shooting at the school where my Dad, my uncle and my stepmom work please pray right now, she wrote at about noon local time. Even before the Covenant School shooting, Drake had concerns about gun violence. Bill Lee and Nashville Mayor John Cooper about the shooting. Bill Lee said in a recorded address Tuesday night, his first extended comments on the shooting. "Those first responding officers were the model response in how active shooter response should be. While police are still working to determine a motive for the attack, they said in a news release that writings left behind by Hale make clear that it was calculated and planned. Hale targeted the school and Covenant Presbyterian Church, to which the school is attached, police said, but its believed the victims were fired upon at random. More than two weeks after a mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school, investigators have not yet identified a clear motive in the attackers journal writings, and authorities have not provided any details publicly to back up their early suggestion that the shooter may have felt resentment toward the school. And while little is known publicly about the shooter's gender identity and whether it even played a role in the massacre, the disinformation surrounding transgender people has also left members of the LGBTQ community worried about their own safety amid a larger debate over LGBTQ rights. Entry was gained by shooting through a door, Drake said, adding that maps had been drawn of the school, including entry points, and he said, We have a manifesto, some writings that were going over.. The officers found the assailant on the second floor of the building housing the school and a Presbyterian church and neutralized the threat by 10:27 a.m., police said. "So exactly how they showed her on the bodycam footage was exactly how I remember her looking and how she always dressed.". A former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday, armed with two assault-style weapons and a handgun after elaborately planning the massacre by drawing a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building, police said. After the shooting, children were seen walking, holding hands and surrounded by police cars, to the nearby Woodmont Baptist church, to be reunited with parents. Possessing a handgun is outlawed in Tennessee for anybody who has been convicted of a felony offense involving violence or drugs. The Covenant School is a private school founded in 2001 that serves students inpre-kindergarten through sixth grade, according to its website. Officers also found a sawed-off shotgun and a second shotgun at the home. Bill Lee said he is monitoring the situation closely and asked for the public to "join us in praying for the school, congregation and Nashville community. The Tennessean said Koonce was the school's headmaster.
Bill Lee said in a recorded address Tuesday night, his first extended comments on the shooting.
Some conservatives seized on that angle to blame the killings at the Christian school on Hales gender identity, with the hashtag #TransTerrorism trending on Twitter. 'OUR CHILDREN DESERVE BETTER':First lady Jill Biden responds to Nashville mass shooting. 2023 Cable News Network. We will respond with resilience to these events, but we are called to be a little more intentional and specific in how we cope with them, Gorter said. "She seemed like she always did, just kind of quiet," she said. I just know what kind of guy he was. Theybelieved Hale had sold the only gun he had. ", "One day this will make more sense," Hale wrote. NASHVILLE, Tenn.The shooter who killed six people, including three children, at a Nashville elementary school Monday had detailed maps of the facility, considered another target and left behind writings that may shed light on a motive, authorities said. Were investigating all the leads and, once we know exactly, well let you know., In an interview with NBC News, Drake said investigators believe Hale had some resentment for having to go to that school., 'AREN'T YOU GUYS TIRED OF THIS? The school shooting the deadliest since 21 people, including 19 children, were killed at a school in Uvalde, Texas, last May renewed the debates over the scourge of American gun violence, access to firearms and school safety.
Nashville school shooting suspect owned 7 legal guns, police say Emergency vehicles and helicopters swarmed the Green Hills neighborhood, which is home to several schools, a string of businesses and residential neighborhoods. Station 20 is the closest fire station to the school. MNPD said Audrey Hale shot at officers from a second-story window when they arrived at the school Monday morning. A top Texas law enforcement official later said there were enough armed police officers wearing body armor to halt the shooting three minutes after it began. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. "We have to do more to stop gun violence," Biden said. The remaining students were escorted out of the building with faculty and staff, and buses took them to asite where students were beingreunited with their parents, Loney said. He added: Now I know therell be people who want to criticise us for prayers. The shooter, identified by police as former student Audrey. Nashville attack renews debate over how best to protect students. For Megan Hill, the days agony unfolded over six long hours, marked by posts on Facebook in which she identified herself as the niece of one of the victims. Nicole Hester/USA Today Network via REUTERS. Harold Love Jr. will speak at the event. What spurred Hale to target The Covenant School about two decades after attending there has led to rampant speculation and placed scrutiny on what police initially said was their focus on the investigation. The 61-year-old wasone of six victims slain in one of the deadliest school shootings in Tennessee history. Nashville police respond to a shooting at Covenant School in Tennessee.
'Nightmare': 6 killed in 'calculated' mass shooting at Nashville school When I heard the news on April 3, my first thought was of the traffic. A member of the kitchen staff at the Covenant school reacts after the shooting. Two officers from a five-member team shot the assailant in a lobby area, and the suspect was pronounced dead by 10:27 a.m. [1/12]A child weeps while on the bus leaving The Covenant School, following a mass shooting at the school in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. March 27, 2023. The children started their morning in their cute little uniforms, they probably had some Froot Loops and now their whole lives changed today.. For an hour, city leaders, including Mayor James Maness, Police Chief James Hambrick and several church pastors, prayed and offered their condolences to The Covenant School and the entire Nashville community.