UPDATED: Female Shooter Kills 6 at Nashville Area Christian School
The 28 year-old was identified by MNPD as being a former student.
**Updates Below**
This morning at about 10:13 a.m. central time, a woman living near the Covenant School, a Presbyterian school for grades Pre-K through 6 in Nashville, TN, heard at least five gunshots in quick succession. A 911 call was made, and by 10:27 a.m., five officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department had entered the school and taken out the shooter.
Five people: three children, and two adults, were sent to Vanderbilt University Medical center; all five died at the hospital. There have been seven confirmed deaths, including the shooter. All of the victims’ families have been notified, but the police have not identified the victims.
Police have identified the shooter as a 28-year-old white female Nashville resident. Her name has not yet been released, as the PD is investigating her home and life to find evidence and a potential motive. Her car was found a short distance from the school, which helped in the identification process, and she may have been a student at the school at some point.
According to police, she was carrying two “assault-style rifles” and a handgun. She entered the school through a side door. Police say the doors were locked as far as they know so far, so they are reviewing the security footage and investigating how exactly she got into the building.
Will update this story as more confirmed details become available …
Update:
Metro Nashville PD has released the names of the victims.
Mike Hill was identified as a custodian, Cynthia Peak was a substitute teacher, and Katherine Koonce was the head of the school.
The shooter was identified as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old who identified as transgender and lived with her father.
According to police, they found a manifesto and several detailed maps of the school, along with evidence that she had been surveilling the school for a while. The MNPD chief John Drake said this was clearly a targeted attack on the Christian school, and they had some theories about the motive but nothing he would share. When questioned if her Trans identity had anything to do with the motive, he would only say that was one angle they were considering.
Chief Drake said she got into the school by shooting through the side door on the lower level. The building is both a Church and a school. He said some shots were fired on the lower level before she proceeded up the stairs to the upper level. He praised his officers for their quick response and willingness to run toward the sound of her gunfire and take quick action. “We would never wait.”
UPDATE 2:
According to a family source who spoke to the Daily Beast, the shooter had only recently decided to transition from female to male. So that ends the confusion there. Also, the shooter’s mother was an anti-gun advocate spurred into action after the Sandy Hook shooting. When reached for comment, she simply told ABC, “It’s very difficult now, we ask for privacy. I really can’t talk right now, I think I lost my daughter today.”
Chief Drake told NBC’s Lester Holt that the working theory is there may have been some lingering resentment about her time at the school but that she was not targeting anyone in particular at the school. Supposedly she was originally targeting another school. However, her “threat assessment” showed the other school’s security was too good; thus, she went for the softer target, Covenant.
One of the murdered 9-year-olds is the daughter of the pastor of the Covenant Church that ran the school. Hallie Scruggs is seen here with her parents, Jada and Pastor Chad Scruggs.
UPDATE 3:
Surveillance footage of the shooter gaining entry to the building has been made public.
The Metro Nashville PD also posted a whole thread on twitter detailing the attack:
The thread included the information that she fired at responding officers from the second-story window of the building as well as photos of the firearms used:
The MNPD official report can be found on Nashville.gov.
UPDATE 4:
The Shooter messaged an old classmate on Instagram before the attack. Her messages made it clear she intended to die. (and yes, Don Lemon is ANNOYING with his constant attempts to clarify the gender of the shooter and justify calling her a “she/her”)
The Messages, courtesy of Daily Mail:
Also, the body camera footage from Officer Perkins was released this morning. Word of warning, the alarms blaring in the building are quite loud:
Excellent work by these officers. Pray for God's protection over their mental well-being. It's never easy to take a life, no matter the circumstances, and, based on the messages she sent her old old schoolmate, she clearly intended to suicide-by-cop with this.
Chief Drake said on CBS this morning that the shooter’s manifesto was drawn cartoon-style. He also said that she targeted school. Other targets she had listed included her own family members and a nearby mall.
UPDATE 5:
At this morning's presser, officials made it clear, Shooter did NOT specifically target any person, only the school as a whole. PD Chief Drake said the shooter had purchased her weapons legally and hidden them from her parents. Said that the custodian was shot when she shot through the door, and the head of the school was the one who died at the school, in the hallway. the others were spread out throughout the area and not all clumped up in one area.
The Chief also said that when the shooter left the house that morning with a red bag, her mother asked, “what’s in the bag?” But shrugged it off when the shooter didn’t really answer and never once considered there might be weapons in the bag, as she was unaware her daughter had them.
Lorraine Yuriar is a wife, mother, and a lifelong conservative, currently stuck in a very blue state.
UPDATED: Female Shooter Kills 6 at Nashville Area Christian School
So, she had a Keltec 2000 carbine rifle some call backpack survival rifle. Ar15 pistol, is not a "Assault" weapon, nor a rifle. Yet, depending on what was written in the letter left. We should know why. yet, every screwball that does something like this, we as legal owners have to pay for their crimes..
It is confusing, and It should not be a big deal, except for the fact that everyone was so surprised that the shooter was a Woman. But if the shooter was a male, that identified as a Woman....well then that may explain some things. It makes a difference. Fox news just said that she was a transgender that identified as a Woman, I had a feeling....