A former pupil opened fire at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, killing six people, including three students and three staff members.
Three of the fatalities were Covenant School students who were nine years old or younger. They were identified by the police as William Kinney, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and Hallie Scruggs.
The adult victims were revealed to be 61-year-old Cynthia Peak, 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, and 61-year-old Michael Hill.
There are roughly 200 students at the private Christian school, with ages ranging from three years old up to twelve years old.
Ms. Peak was a substitute teacher at the institution on the day of the incident. Ms. Koonce was identified as the Head of the school according to Covenant’s website, while Mr. Hill worked as a janitor.
The suspect was later identified by the police as a 28-year-old transgender, Audrey Hale.
Police shot and killed Hale while he was carrying three weapons, one of which was a semi-automatic rifle.
The initial report of the event was made to the police on Monday at 10:13 local time (22:13 GMT+7).
Hale arrived at the school in a Honda Fit and entered the building by shooting through a door.
He was shown on surveillance footage by Nashville police entering the school with a gun, strolling the empty halls while wearing a protective vest, and carrying an assault-style weapon.
Hale moved to the second level of the building after firing rounds from the ground floor.
As the police cars approached, Hale reportedly fired shots from the second floor, hitting the windscreen of one of the cars and causing glass fragments to injure one officer.
The police then stormed the building at 10:27 (22:27 GMT+7) and fatally shot the suspect.
During a search of a nearby residence, the police talked with Hale’s father and concluded that Hale was a former pupil of the school. A manifesto and an assault map with access and escape points were discovered by the investigators.
Officials also revealed on Tuesday that Hale lawfully purchased seven guns from five local businesses and used three of them in Monday’s attack.
Hale lived with his parents and they were against him having access to firearms, therefore he had to keep his gun purchases secret from them, said the police.
The parents believed their child had only one weapon which they thought he sold it.
According to the police, Hale had been undergoing treatment for an “emotional disorder” that was not disclosed to the authorities.
At a nearby church, parents congregated to reunite with their children, who were seen hanging their heads and hands out of the windows, waving to their parents.
Located in the upscale Green Hills neighborhood just south of downtown Nashville, Covenant School is associated with the Presbyterian Church.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper issued a statement in which he said that his city had “joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting.”
In response to the shooting, President Joe Biden referred to it as “a family’s worst nightmare” and urged Congress to implement gun control laws.
He emphasized that gun violence is a destructive force that is tearing communities apart and causing harm to the nation.
There have been 12 school shootings so far in 2023, making this the 129th mass shooting in America.
