NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Authorities on Tuesday launched intense police physique digicam footage from a lethal capturing rampage at an area Christian faculty as particulars emerged in regards to the three college students and three staffers who have been killed within the carnage.
The Covenant Faculty college students who died Monday have been all 9 years outdated, and the staffers have been of their 60s. The shooter was killed by responding officers, police mentioned.
Police launched greater than two minutes of surveillance footage late Monday, adopted by six minutes of physique digicam video on Tuesday from officers who encountered the shooter.
The physique digicam footage exhibits officers arriving on the faculty, asserting “Metro Police” as they enter the constructing and a few school rooms with 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, when a number of photographs have been fired on the attacker, who went down, amid shouts of “cease shifting,” “suspect down,” and “get your hand away from the gun.”
The assault was the nation’s 129th mass capturing of 2023, in line with Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence knowledge. The assault additionally marks the 89th capturing on Okay-12 faculty grounds in 2023 – a mean of 1 daily – in line with the Okay-12 Faculty Capturing Database.
“That is the last word crime when faculty youngsters and caregivers are the victims of mindless gun violence,” Nashville District Lawyer Glenn Funk mentioned.
‘IT WAS TRULY HORRIFIC’: Nashville mourns after mass capturing
Who have been the victims?
Police recognized the coed victims as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all age 9. The staffers have been Katherine Koonce, 60, recognized on the Covenant web site as “head of faculty;” 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 line 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 line with the varsity web site. She earned a grasp’s in schooling 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 Faculty via her sophomore yr 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 college 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 form 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 unique Nashville faculty apparently scrapped due to “an excessive amount of safety.’’
“Now we have 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. “Now we have 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 Faculty 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 might have transferred to a different faculty after that, he mentioned.
MORE:What we all know in regards to the Nashville faculty shooter
Surveillance footage exhibits armed suspect arriving at college
In surveillance footage launched by Nashville police late Monday, Hale is seen driving to the varsity to hold out the capturing. 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 picture
Nashville capturing 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 automobiles from a second story window.
The officers discovered the shooter on the second flooring of the constructing that homes the varsity and a Presbyterian church. The risk 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 varsity and start clearing it. They heard photographs coming from the second stage; they instantly went to the gunfire.”
What’s the Covenant Faculty in Nashville?
The Covenant Faculty is a non-public faculty based in 2001 that serves college students in pre-kindergarten via sixth grade, in line with its web site. On a given day, barely over 200 college students and 42 employees 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 picture attracts criticism
U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., whose district contains the location of Monday’s mass capturing in Nashville, acquired widespread criticism from gun management advocates for a Christmas picture he posted in 2021 of his household posing with weapons. The picture, which remained on the congressman’s Fb web page as of Monday evening, exhibits his spouse and two of his three youngsters 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 wherever 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
Bacon reported from Arlington, Va. Contributing: Rachel Wegner, Kirsten Fiscus, Craig Shoup, Nashville Tennessean; Trevor Hughes, Grace Hauck, Jorge L. Ortiz, Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY