Three kids and four adults, including gunman, dead in US private school shooting
The shooter who gunned down six people – including three nine-year-old children – at a Christian school in the US sent a haunting final string of messages.
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The shooter who gunned down six people – including three nine-year-old children – at a Christian school in the US sent a haunting final string of messages before the massacre.
Audrey Hale, 28, shot his way into Covenant School in Nashville, in the state of Tennessee, at 10.13am on Monday before opening fire on innocent teachers and kids.
Hale – who was born female but was listed with male pronouns on LinkedIn, suggesting he was a transgender man – messaged Averianna Patton on Instagram at 9.57am, 16 minutes before the shooting unfolded, NewsChannel 5 reported.
“I’m planning to die today,” Hale wrote to Ms Patton, his former middle school basketball teammate.
“THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!
“You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.”
“This is my last goodbye. I love you … See you again in another life.”
He signed off the message as “Audrey (Aiden).”
Ms Patton replied that Audrey had “so much more life to live”.
“I pray God keeps and covers you,” she added.
Hale replied: “I know but I don’t want to live. I’m so sorry. I’m not trying to upset you or get attention. I just need to die. I wanted to tell you first because you are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen and known all my life.
“My family doesn’t know what I’m about to do. One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind. But something bad is about to happen.”
Chilling CCTV footage of mass shooting
CCTV footage released by the Nashville police department shows how Hale arrived at the school in a Honda Fit car.
He then broke into the school by shooting through locked doors, shattering the glass.
The mass shooter was seen stalking through the corridors of the school wearing a red cap backwards, a white T-shirt, a tactical vest and combat pants.
His victims were killed at random, police believe.
Horror detail emerges in school massacre
A LinkedIn profile under the name Audrey Hale listed his occupation as a commercial illustrator and graphic designer and revealed he previously worked on a children’s book about a support dog.
Police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford said the shooter was born female but was listed with male pronouns on LinkedIn, which suggested that the shooter was a transgender man, the New York Times reports.
Hale’s website listed his hobbies as “binging (sic) on video games, watching movies, and playing sports”.
“There is a childlike part about me that loves to go run to the playground,” Hale wrote. “Animals are my second passion, so I also enjoy spending time with my two cats.”
Hale previously attended Nossi College of Art in Nashville, and recently worked part-time as a grocery shopper for delivery service Shipt, according to LinkedIn.
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Meanwhile, the New York Post has identified Hale’s mother as Norma Fort Hale, who works as a co-ordinator at a Nashville church – and who previously campaigned against gun violence.
In 2018, she shared a link on Facebook to a petition to “keep guns out of schools” in response to the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, describing the message as “so important”.
The same year, she also shared another petition urging politicians to “Make Large-Capacity Gun Magazines Illegal”.
She also previously shared gushing posts about Hale, writing in 2017 she was “so proud of Audrey” in relation to his achievements at college.
While inside the school, Hale killed students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, as well as custodian Mike Hill, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, both 61, and school head Katherine Koonce, 60.
Hale was a former student at the school, and police confirmed Hale cancelled plans to target another school in the same area as it had too much security.
Claims shooter driven by ‘resentment’
Nashville police chief John Drake has told media that while an exact motive has not yet been determined, there were indications Hale may have been driven by a sense of “resentment”.
“There’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school,” he told NBC News on Monday evening.
However, authorities are investigating whether Hale’s gender identity may have been a factor in the attack.
“There is some theory to that, we’re investigating all the leads,” Mr Drake said of the theory.
How tragic massacre unfolded
Officers responding to emergency calls heard gunshots on the second floor and rushed to a lobby-type area where they came across Hale who had two assault rifles and a handgun.
Hale was shot dead by police on site at 10.27am after a 14-minute rampage.
The officers who shot dead Hale have been named as Rex Englebert and Michael Collazo.
Shortly after the shooting, police found a manifesto and map that pointed to the shooting being a targeted attack, according to police chief John Drake.
“We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date,” Mr Drake told reporters at a press conference.
“We have a map drawn out of how this was all gonna take place.”
He added that Hale, who had no police record or record of mental health problems, was “prepared to do more harm than was actually done”.
Mr Drake confirmed police had spoken to Hale’s father.
There was a “car nearby that gave us clues” into who the shooter was, he added.
Mr Drake said police received a call at 10.13am about an active shooter, later identified as Hale, at The Covenant School.
Officers rushed to the scene to clear the halls, and encountered person who was firing.
It is believed Hale entered the premises through a side entrance of the school, armed with “two AR-style rifles and a handgun”. At least two of the guns were obtained legally in the local area.
Officers Englebert and Collazo opened fire on the shooter and he was fatally shot, Mr Drake said.
A hospital spokesman confirmed that the three child victims were pronounced dead on arrival at the facility.
“(Three) paediatric patients were transported to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, all having suffered gunshot wounds,” John Howser, chief communications officer for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said in a statement.
“All three were pronounced dead after arrival.”
Officials said the victims’ families had been informed.
Shooter armed with ‘significant ammunition’
Nashville police have released images of the three guns that were used in the mass shooting.
Officers confirmed Hale fired several rounds, was armed with “significant ammunition”, and entered the school after shooting out the glass of the main entry doors.
It has also been revealed that Hale fired upon police arriving at the scene from a second-storey window, with harrowing pictures of bullet holes in police vehicles and school windows emerging.
Officers have also released photos of Hale’s car, a grey Honda Fit, which was driven to the school campus.
It was found to contain material written by the shooter.
Biden’s reaction to shooting lashed
President Joe Biden joked Monday that he only showed up to a White House event because he heard there would be ice cream — before addressing the horrific mass school shooting that left six dead hours earlier.
“My name is Joe Biden. I’m Dr. Jill Biden’s husband,” the 80-year-old president began his remarks at an East Room gathering of women-owned businesses.
“And I eat Jeni’s ice cream — chocolate chip. I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream,” he said.
“By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs,” Biden added at his only scheduled public appearance of the day. “You think I’m kidding? I’m not.”
The president then turned serious to address the shooting at the Covenant School, in which three students and three staff members were killed, calling it “sick” and “a family’s worst nightmare” before demanding once again that Congress pass a ban on assault weapons.
“It’s about time we began to make some more progress,” he said.
Remarkably, Mr Biden again returned to the subject of ice cream with another shout-out to a rep from Jeni’s, an Ohio-based chain with shops across the country, including a location near the White House.
Stunned anchors on Fox News were forced to cut the vision on live TV as Biden continued to discuss ice-cream.
“We’ll jump back in here, considering the moment, the school shooting that just happened left three adults dead – we were told he would be addressing this off the top,” a female presenter said.
“It’s rather surprising, I thought a sombre President Biden would have come to the podium here and addressed the school shooting.”
First lady Jill Biden also reacted to the Nashville school shooting while at an event in Washington, DC.
“We just learned about another shooting in Tennessee. A school shooting. And I am truly without words. Our children deserve better. And we stand, all of us, we stand with Nashville in prayer,” she said.
🚨#BREAKING: 3 dead, multiple injured, after a gunman opened fire at the Covenant School in #Nashville, Tennessee pic.twitter.com/Rs6H2nkp5z
— Breaking News 24/7 (@Worldsource24) March 27, 2023
Nashville Councilman Freddie O’Connell said in a statement: “Nashville has, sadly, today joined the communities that have experienced a school shooting. For now, my focus is turning to supporting the impacted families and revisiting our efforts to prevent these horrifying scenarios.”
In a tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting.
— Mayor John Cooper (@JohnCooper4Nash) March 27, 2023
My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you.
As facts continue to emerge, I thank our first responders and medical professionals.
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) March 27, 2023
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he was closely monitoring the situation, adding that the state Highway Patrol and Department of Safety officers are assisting first responders.
“As we continue to respond, please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community,” Mr Lee said.
The Covenant School, which teaches students in preschool through to sixth grade, has about 200 students enrolled, according to its website.
The incident is the 128th mass shooting in the US this year, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
Witness describes chaos following mass shooting
A woman working at an office building across the street from a mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school described seeing police cars speeding to the scene Monday morning.
Jozen Reodica told CNN she feared the worst after seeing cruisers pouring into the parking lot of the Covenant School, where a shooter slaughtered three children and three adults before being shot down by cops.
“It all happened so fast,” she told the outlet, noting police quickly cordoned off streets in the area near the elementary school as word of the atrocity began to spread.
Reodica, who works at Shearwater Health directly across from the school, filmed frightened students being led out of their building by police.
She said they walked in a single-file line while holding hands.
White House calls for gun control change
The White House has blamed Republicans’ opposition to gun reform for the latest school shooting in Tennessee.
White House saying that the shooting could’ve been avoided if the GOP joined efforts to ban assault weapons.
“While we don’t know yet all of the details in this latest tragic shooting, we know that too often our schools and communities are being devastated by gun violence,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in her daily briefing. “Schools should be safe spaces for kids to grow and learn and for our educators to teach.
“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban, to close loopholes in our background check system or to require the safe storage of guns,” she added. “We need to do something.”
Jean-Pierre added: “President Biden has taken more action than any president in history on gun safety — from nearly two dozen actions including the executive order he just signed … to the bipartisan safer communities act legislation he signed into law after the [shooting] tragedies in Uvalde and Buffalo.
Witness describes chaos following mass shooting at Nashville Christian school
“He also believes it’s not enough. We must do more. And he wants Congress to act because enough is enough.”
— With NY Post
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