NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities on Tuesday launched intense police physique digicam footage from a lethal taking pictures rampage at a neighborhood Christian faculty as particulars emerged in regards to the three college students and three staffers who had been killed within the carnage.
The Covenant College college students who died had been all 9 years previous, and the staffers had been of their 60s. The shooter was killed by police.
Police launched greater than two minutes of surveillance footage late Monday. On Tuesday, a number of minutes of physique digicam video from officers who encountered the shooter had been launched.
The physique digicam footage exhibits officers arriving a the college, saying “Metro Police” as they enter the college and a number of the school rooms, rifles raised.
“It sounds prefer it’s upstairs,” an officer says as they ascend the steps to the sound of gunfire above. The video ends with the confrontation in an upstairs foyer space, a number of pictures fired the attacker apparently down and officers yelling “get your hand away from the gun.”
The assault was the nation’s 129th mass taking pictures of 2023, in keeping with Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence knowledge. The assault additionally marks the 89th taking pictures on Okay-12 faculty grounds in 2023 – a median of 1 on daily basis – in keeping with the Okay-12 College Taking pictures Database.
“Whereas I can not touch upon the continuing nature of the investigation, I am actually impressed with the work that is being executed by legislation enforcement,” Nashville District Lawyer Glenn Funk mentioned. “That is the final word crime when faculty kids and caregivers are the victims of mindless gun violence.”
‘IT WAS TRULY HORRIFIC’: Nashville mourns after mass taking pictures
Who had been the victims?
Police recognized the scholar victims as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all age 9. The staffers had been Katherine Koonce, 60, recognized on the Covenant web site as “head of college;” substitute instructor Cynthia Peak, 61; and custodian Mike Hill, 61.
Hallie was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, who’s the lead pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church, in keeping with a press release from his former church in Dallas.
“We love the Scruggs household and mourn with them over their treasured daughter Hallie,” Mark Davis, senior pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian Church, mentioned in a press release. “Collectively, we belief within the energy of Christ to attract close to and provides us the consolation and hope we desperately want.”
Koonce obtained a bachelor’s diploma from Vanderbilt College in Nashville, in keeping with the college web site. She earned a grasp’s in training from Georgia State College in Atlanta and a doctorate from Trevecca College, a Christian faculty in Nashville.
Peak was raised in Leesville, Louisiana, and attended Leesville Excessive College via her sophomore 12 months in 1977 when her household relocated to Shreveport, KALB-TV in Alexandria, Louisiana, reported. She later graduated from Texas Christian College in Fort Price, the station reported.
Tim Dunavant, a pastor at Harstville First United Methodist Church, mentioned Hill was the final worker he employed when Dunavant ran the kitchen on the Covenant church and faculty greater than 13 years in the past.
“I’ve a sense, when all of it comes out, Mike’s sacrifice saved lives,” Dunavant wrote in a Fb submit. “I’ve nothing factual to base that upon. I simply know what sort of man he was. And I do know he’s the sort of man that might do this. Goodbye Mike, I’m going to overlook these encouraging texts out of the blue from you.”
Who was the suspect?
Police recognized the attacker as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, a transgender man. Hale, an illustrator and graphic designer, entered the Covenant faculty with an AR-style rifle, an AR-style pistol and one other handgun, police mentioned.
Metro Nashville Police Division Chief John Drake mentioned officers seized written materials and a map describing how the assault would unfold, in addition to a plan to shoot up a special Nashville faculty apparently scrapped due to “an excessive amount of safety.’’
“We have now a manifesto, we’ve some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the precise incident,” Drake mentioned at a day press convention. “We have now a map drawn out of how this was all going to happen.”
Drake informed NBC Information that Hale may need had “some resentment for having to go to that faculty.”
Invoice Campbell, a headmaster of The Covenant College from 2004 to 2008, informed NBC Information he remembers Hale as third-grader on the faculty in 2005 and a fourth-grader in 2006. Hale could have transferred to a different faculty after that, he mentioned.
MORE:What we all know in regards to the Nashville faculty shooter
Police launch video of assault
In surveillance footage launched by Nashville police late Monday, Hale is seen driving to the college to hold out the taking pictures. Hale, armed with a number of firearms together with an AR-style rifle, shoots the glass doorways to enter the constructing. Hale walks in hallways and goals the assault rifle earlier than the video cuts off. The video, with no audio, is greater than two minutes lengthy.
Drake mentioned the division will launch physique digicam video from officers who encountered the shooter.
ARMED CONGRESSMAN:Andy Ogles, GOP congressman representing Nashville, criticized for posing with weapons in household Christmas photograph
Nashville taking pictures suspect killed by police in ‘swift’ response
Nashville police mentioned 5 officers responded to a 911 name that arrived at 10:13 a.m., and the shooter fired on arriving police autos from a second story window .
The officers discovered the shooter on the second ground of the constructing that homes the college and a Presbyterian church. The menace was over by 10:27 a.m., police mentioned.
“The police division response was swift,” police spokesman Don Aaron mentioned. “Officers entered the primary story of the college and start clearing it. They heard pictures coming from the second degree; they instantly went to the gunfire.”
What’s the Covenant College in Nashville?
The Covenant College is a non-public faculty based in 2001 that serves college students in pre-kindergarten via sixth grade, in keeping with its web site. On a given day, barely over 200 college students and 42 workers members are on the faculty, Aaron mentioned.
The varsity is on the campus of Covenant Presbyterian Church within the metropolis’s Inexperienced Hills neighborhood, about 9 miles southeast of downtown Nashville. It is subsequent door to a Nashville Fireplace Division station and fewer than a mile south of Nashville’s largest purchasing district.
The varsity’s motto is “Shepherding hearts. Empowering Minds. Celebrating Childhood.”
Native congressman’s household photograph attracts criticism
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., whose district contains the positioning of Monday’s mass taking pictures in Nashville, acquired widespread criticism from gun management advocates for a Christmas photograph he posted in 2021 of his household posing with weapons. The photograph, which remained on the congressman’s Fb web page as of Monday night time, exhibits his spouse and two of his three kids smiling and holding firearms in entrance of a Christmas tree.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS! The Ogles Household,” the submit reads, including in quotes: “The very ambiance of firearms anyplace and in every single place restrains evil interference – they deserve a spot of honor with all that is good.” Learn extra right here.
– Joey Garrison
Contributing: Rachel Wegner, Kirsten Fiscus, Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean; Trevor Hughes, Grace Hauck, Jorge L. Ortiz, Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY