Ajit Karn
Nashville, Tennessee: Video footage released on Tuesday depicted police officers in Nashville, Tennessee, storming a private Christian elementary school on Monday, confronting and fatally shooting an assailant who murdered three 9-year-old students and three adult staff members.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released six minutes of distressing footage from the body-worn cameras of two responding officers, which showed officers evacuating several classrooms on the first floor before proceeding to the second floor as gunfire was heard.
The officers are seen running down a corridor, past what appears to be a victim lying on the ground, and into a lounge area where the suspect is seen falling to the ground after being shot.
Police have identified the gunman as a former Covenant School student of 28 years, Audrey Elizabeth Hale. Investigators are scrutinizing what they call a “manifesto” that Hale left behind in an effort to determine what motivated the most recent mass shooting in the United States.
According to the K-12 School Shooting Database, a website founded by researcher David Riedman, Monday’s violence marked the 90th school shooting – defined as any incident in which a pistol is discharged on school property – in the United States this year. In 2017, there were 303 such incidents, the highest number in the database’s history, which dates back to 1970.
During a previous press briefing, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake stated that Hale had self-identified as transgender, but he did not elaborate. Drake and other officials repeatedly referred to the suspect with female pronouns, while Hale’s LinkedIn page listed recent employment in graphic design and grocery delivery using male pronouns.
Drake stated that Hale had a comprehensive, hand-drawn map of the school with multiple entry points. According to authorities, Hale was equipped with two assault-style weapons, one of which was a rifle, and a 9mm pistol.
According to Drake, Hale’s manifesto suggested he intended to carry out additional massacres at other locations. He stated that the Covenant School was the sole target of the attack, while the other victims were selected at random.
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Drake stated without elaboration that investigators believe Hale harbored “some resentment for having to attend that school” as a child.
The names of the three children are Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney. Katherine Koonce, 60, the school principal, Mike Hill, 61, a school custodian, and Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher, were also fatally shot.
Chad Scruggs is the pastor of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, which is affiliated with the institution. In a statement to ABC News, he expressed that the family was devastated.
“Through tears, we have faith that she is in the arms of Jesus, who will bring her back to life,” read the statement.
“REMOVE YOUR HANDS FROM THE GUN!”
At 10:13 a.m., police in Nashville began receiving inquiries about a shooter, according to a spokesperson, Don Aaron. At 10:27 a.m., the suspect was pronounced deceased.
Aaron stated that the police department’s response was prompt.
The body camera footage showed officers quickly searching for the shooter, in contrast to footage from May of last year in which officers in Uvalde, Texas, waited inside Robb Elementary School for more than an hour while a gunman in a classroom continued an attack that resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two adults.
According to an investigation by a state commission, a number of officers who responded to a school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018 remained outside the building rather than promptly pursing the suspect. In this assault, seventeen students and faculty members perished.
Both incidents prompted a new examination of police protocols for active shooters, which require officers to immediately engage the suspect to prevent loss of life.
The opening scene of the Nashville police video depicts an officer retrieving a rifle from his trunk while a staff member informs him that the school has been sealed down, but two students are still missing.
“Let’s go! The officer shouts, “I need three!” as he uses a key to activate a door and enters a building where alarms can be heard sounding.
The video shows officers clearing one room after another as they pass bulletin boards and containers. When the officers reach the second floor, one of them declares, “We’ve got one down” before rushing down the corridor to confront the gunman.
Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, whose body cameras captured the video, discharge multiple rounds at the suspect. The video shows the assailant continuing to move on the ground while another officer repeatedly screams, “Get your hands off the gun!”
Police had previously published surveillance footage depicting the gunman entering the school by shooting through a glass entrance upon arrival. The suspect is observed stalking through vacant corridors while emergency lights flash, brandishing a rifle and entering rooms in an apparent attempt to find people.
According to the school’s website, the Covenant School, which was founded in 2001, serves approximately 200 pupils from nursery to sixth grade in the Green Hills neighborhood of Tennessee’s state capital.
