Police release video of deadly Nashville shooting
SEE ALSO: Video shows Nashville police search school, fire at shooter
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Monday night, Metro Nashville Police released footage of the shooting at a private Christian school.
Video shows the shooter driving, shooting the door, and entering the school.
“When we send our kids to school or to any place of safety, we expect them to live, learn, have fun and come back from that day they’ve experienced. We don’t anticipate things like this,” said Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
It was a normal school day, and a Monday at that the beginning of the school week. Parents dropped off their kids, staff got ready for a day full of education. But at 10:13 a.m., a call came in of shots fired at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Metro Nashville police responded to the shooting as 911 calls began pouring in of a active shooter being inside the building.
Avery Myrick, who’s mother is a teacher at the school, spoke on the conversation she had with her mother during the terrifying moments.
“She said she was hiding in the closet and that there was shooting all over, and that they had potentially tried to get into her room, and just that she loved us, and that they could just hear her shooting all over the school,” said Myrick.
The shooting at the private Presbyterian school resulted in the deaths of six victims, including three students and three adults.
Those victims have been identified as:
- Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9
- Hallie Scruggs, 9
- William Kinney, 9,
- Cynthia Peak, 61
- Katherine Koonce, 60
- Mike Hill, 61
Five others were injured, three children and two adults.
According to authorities, two metro Nashville police officers went to the sounds of gunfire and engaged with the shooter on the second floor, shooting and killing the suspect.
According to authorities, the suspect did attend the school at one point. They also say that there was a map written out with entrance points on how she was going to carry out the shooting, along with a manifesto. They say she was heavily armed with ammunition with two “AR-styled” rifles and one handgun.
The suspect has been identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, of Nashville. Hale was reportedly transgender with no criminal history.
“I was home at my house, and we heard an extremely loud explosion, and looked out the front door and the neighbor was running up the street and came up here and there was SWAT trucks everywhere,” said David Hagy, a resident.
During a search of Hale’s home, police found an additional location written down that authorities are also investigating.
“We’ve also determined there were maps drawn out the school in detail, of surveillance entry points, et cetera,” Drake said.
Police say Hale gained access to the school by shooting through one of the doors.
In the wake of this most recent shooting, President Joe Biden is, once again, calling for Congress to pass his assault weapons ban.
“We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation, ripping at the very soul of the nation. And we we have to do more to protect our schools so they aren’t turned into prisons,” Biden said.
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