Nashville shooting: Audrey Hale identified as Covenant School shooter
Rachel Schilke
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A mass shooting on Monday at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, left three children, three adults, and a female shooter dead.
The shooter was identified by police as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old white woman who lived in the Nashville area. Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Hale was a former student of the school.
NASHVILLE SHOOTING: THREE CHILDREN, THREE ADULTS KILLED IN SHOOTING AT CHRISTIAN COVENANT SCHOOL
The victims have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9. The adult victims are Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. Koonce had been the head of Covenant School since July 2016 and worked in the Nashville area for over a decade. Hill was a custodian, and Peak was a substitute teacher, according to NBC News.
“When we send our kids to school, we expect them to live, learn, have fun, and come back from that day’s experience,” Drake said. “We don’t anticipate things like this.”
Drake confirmed that law enforcement officials were on the scene at Hale’s home. Officers recovered maps of the school that included entry points and a manifesto relating to the day’s shooting, Drake said. There was another location mentioned in the Nashville area, but due to security restrictions, Hale decided not to carry out a shooting at that school.
Drake said it was a targeted attack, and the shooter identified as a transgender woman.
Hale entered the school through the side entrance with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, according to Don Aaron, the Metro Nashville Police Department’s media relations director.
Entry was gained by shooting through one of the doors, Drake said.
The shooter fired multiple shots, and a five-person team of officers engaged the shooter upon arrival, with two of the five opening fire. Hale was fatally shot at 10:27 a.m.
FBI officials and SWAT team personnel were present at a home in Nashville, and neighbors reported hearing explosions. NBC News reporters on the scene said officers placed grenades at the door to forcibly enter the house.
Drake said police have a working theory on a motive but are not yet ready to release it. Police also plan on releasing video surveillance footage of the shooting within two days.
Officers have contacted Hale’s father, who lived at the home, and Drake said investigators hope they can learn more from him. No one was home when law enforcement officials arrived at Hale’s house.
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The Covenant School is a private Christian school for preschool through sixth grade students. Last year, the school held an active shooter drill, per News Channel 5.
The private school has had an enrollment of between 195 and 210 students in recent years and was founded as a ministry of the Covenant Presbyterian Church in 2001, per the school’s website.