Editor’s note: (This story contains graphic depictions of violence.)
(CNN) As a grieving Nashville community grapples with the mass shooting that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults at a private Christian school, police are releasing more details. about the 28-year-old shooter.
The attack took place over 14 minutes on Monday morning at The Covenant School, where an armed gunman opened fire in the elementary school to gain access and kill six people before being shot by responding police.
The parents of the shooter, identified as Audrey Hale, told police they knew Hale had bought and sold a weapon and believed it was that size, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. on Tuesday.
But Hale, who is under treatment for an emotional disorder, legally purchased seven firearms that were kept at home, Drake said. Three of the weapons, including an AR-style rifle, were used in Monday’s attack.
Police said the attack was premeditated, knowing that Hale had detailed maps of the school as well as writings related to the shooting and were looking for a second possible attack location in Nashville. . Hale’s childhood friend also revealed that the shooter sent her threatening messages before the attack.
The attack marked the 19th shooting at a school or university so far in 2023 that left at least one person injured, a CNN count showed. It is also the deadliest US school shooting in nearly a year, since the May attack in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 dead.
As terrified students and teachers were brought to safety from The Covenant School Monday, word spread of the missing: three young children, the head of their school, its custodian and a substitute teacher.
“All of Tennessee was hurt yesterday, but some parents woke up without children, children woke up without parents and without teachers, and spouses woke up without their loved ones,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who also lost a close family friend in the shooting.
RT VanOrden shields his daughters from the wind during a vigil for the victims of a deadly shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, Tuesday.
A ‘calculated’ attack and disturbing messages
The shooter sent a disturbing Instagram message to a childhood friend just before 10 a.m. Monday, saying “I plan to die today” and that it was in the news, the friend Averianna Patton said. told CNN on Tuesday.
Patton, a Nashville radio host, told CNN that he was the shooter’s childhood basketball teammate but that they hadn’t spoken in years and wasn’t sure why he received the message. Patton said she called the suicide hotline and the Nashville Davidson County Sheriff’s Office at about 10:13 a.m.
At the same time Nashville police said they received a 911 call of an active shooter inside The Covenant School.
Writings left by Hale revealed the attack was “calculated and planned,” police said. The shooter had a drawing of how to enter the building and “attacks that would take place,” Drake said at a news conference Tuesday.
The attacker “was prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement, willing to do more damage than he actually did,” Drake said Monday.
Hale targeted the school, but it is believed the students were fired at random, police said.
“This school, this church building was a target of the shooter, but we don’t have any information at this time to indicate that the shooter specifically targeted any of the six individuals who were killed,” police spokesman Don Aaron said in a statement. Tuesday.
While the motive remains under investigation, police say Hale was a one-time student at The Covenant School.
Hale graduated from Nossi College of Art & Design in Nashville last year, the school’s president confirmed to CNN. Hale works as a freelance graphic designer and part-time grocery shopper, a LinkedIn profile says.
Police called Hale a “female shooter,” and in an evening news conference added that Hale is transgender. Hale used male pronouns on a social media profile, a spokeswoman told CNN when asked to clarify.
Police deal with a shooter on bodycam footage
Armed with three handguns, the shooter entered the school by blasting through the glass doors and climbed inside, where the shooter can be seen walking down the hallways and pointing an assault-style weapon, surveillance video shows. released by Metro Nashville Police shows.
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The first call about the shooting came in at 10:13 a.m. and police rushed to the school, arriving at 10:24 a.m., according to the police chief.
Police on Tuesday released body-camera footage from the two officers who shot the shooter after rushing into the school on Monday.
The footage, from the body-worn cameras of officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, begins with Engelbert arriving at the school to find a woman outside who says the school locked but with two children unknown.
After giving the officer a key to unlock the building’s door, a group of five officers entered the school amid wailing fire alarms and immediately entered several empty rooms- classroom to find the suspect.
As they cleared the rooms, officers heard gunshots from upstairs and rushed up to the second floor, where Engelbert, armed with an assault-style rifle, fired several times at a man near the a large window, which fell to the ground, was shown in the video. .
Collazo then appeared to shoot the man on the ground four times with a gun, yelling “Stop moving!” The officers immediately approached the man, switched on the gun and radioed “Suspect down! Suspect down!”
The shooter was dead at 10:27 am, said Aaron.
As a private school run by a church, there is no school resource officer assigned by the city to watch over the school, according to Aaron.
Asked about the approximately 11-minute gap between when police received the first call of an active shooter and when officers arrived at the school, the police chief told reporters, “In I see, I don’t have a particular problem with It. But we want to get better. We always want to get there in two or three minutes and so there are many things that can happen — traffic is blocked , etc.”
Who are the victims?
Photo of Covenant School Shooting victims Katherine Koonce, Mike Hill, Cynthia Peak, Evelyn Dieckhaus and Hallie Scruggs.
The shooting victims included three 9-year-old students: Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of the church’s lead pastor Chad Scruggs. Also killed were Cynthia Peak, 61, substitute teacher; Katherine Koonce, the 60-year-old head of school; and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian, police said.
“Our community is heartbroken,” The Covenant School, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, said in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss and the shock that comes from the terror that destroyed our school and church,” the school said.
Sissy Goff, one of Koonce’s friends, went to the reunification center after the shooting and suspected something was wrong when she didn’t see Koonce there.
“Knowing him, he’s very kind and strong and such a voice of reason and security for people that he should be at the forefront of everything, so I have a feeling,” Goff said.
Robin Wolfenden prays at a makeshift memorial for the victims outside the Covenant School building of the Covenant Presbyterian Church after the shooting, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday.
Peak, a substitute teacher, is a close friend of Tennessee First Lady Maria Lee and was supposed to be at the Lees’ home for dinner Monday night, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a video statement on Tuesday.
“Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends, Cindy Peak,” the governor said.
Some families of the victims released statements while mourning their loved ones. Hill was described as a father of seven and grandfather of 14 who loved to cook and spend time with his family, his family said in a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WSMV.
Evelyn’s family released a statement calling her “a shining light in the world.”
The city of Nashville is planning a vigil Wednesday night to mourn those lost in the mass shooting, according to Nashville Mayor John Cooper. It will take place at One Public Square park at 5:30 pm local time.
“It’s important that we stand together on this dark day for Nashville,” he said in a tweet. The city has also set aside funds to help survivors of the shooting, Cooper said.
CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Amara Walker, Tina Burnside, Amanda Jackson, Sara Smart and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
