Nashville school shooting: Transgender killer who killed three children was a former student who made the building’s ‘manifesto’ and maps | US News

A 28-year-old man, identified as transgender, killed three nine-year-old children and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Audrey Elizabeth Halewho was once a student there, was killed by police after a confrontation with officers following the attack on Covenant School.

Police said the “lone zealot,” who lived in Nashville, was armed with two assault-type weapons and a handgun.

Hale had a poster and detailed maps of the school and entered the building by shooting through a door prior to the killings.

The assailant identified as transgender was also revealed.

Police Chief John Drake said: “We have a manifesto. We have some writings that we’re looking at that pertain to this day, the actual incident. We have a map drawn of how all of this was going to happen.”

The six victims were named nine-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, 61-year-old Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, and 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, who was the headmistress of the school.

Officers began receiving reports of an attack at 10.13am (4.13pm UK time) and as police began clearing the ground floor of the school they heard gunfire from the second floor.

Two officers from a five-member squad opened fire in response and shot the suspect to death at 10:27 am (4:27 pm).

The three children, who were all students, were pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital.

The female attacker died after being “engaged by” officers, police said in a Twitter post.

A possible reason for Hale’s gun violence is not known.

Biden condemns ‘sick’ attack

US President Joe Biden called Monday’s attack “unhealthy” and “excruciating”.

He said the United States must do more to protect schools and called on the Senate to pass the assault weapons ban, which would criminalize the sale, manufacture, transfer, possession or importation of many types of semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines.

No one else was hit in the assault on the school, which teaches students up to sixth grade (approximately age 12).

There have been 89 US school shootings so far this year, defined as when a gun is fired at school property.

In 2022, there were 303 such incidents, the most of any year in the database of K-12 school shootings, which dates back to 1970.

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Other pupils made their way to safety, holding hands as they left the school surrounded by police cars, heading to a nearby church where they were reunited with their parents.

Officers in rifles, vests and helmets could be seen walking in the school parking lot and around the perimeter of the building.

Helicopter footage also showed the officers looking around a wooded area between the campus and a nearby road.

Police said no officers were deployed to the school at the time of the shooting because it is a church-run school.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper thanked 911 for their response to the attack.

He tweeted, “On one tragic morning, Nashville joined the dreaded, long list of communities to witness a school shooting.

“My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city is with you.”

“An Unimaginable Tragedy”

Democratic state representative Bob Freeman, whose district includes the Covenant School, called the shooting an “unimaginable tragedy.”

“I live around the corner from the Covenant and pass by often. I have friends who attend both church and school there,” Freeman said.

“I’ve also visited the church in the past. It breaks my heart to see this.”

The Covenant School has about 200 students in kindergarten through sixth grade and was founded as a ministry of the Covenant Presbyterian Church in 2001, according to the school’s website.