A citywide candlelight vigil has been planned for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at One Public Square Park to “mourn and honor the lives of the victims, and lift up the survivors and families of The Covenant School,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced on Twitter.
Join us, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at One Public Square Park for a citywide candlelight vigil to mourn and honor the lives of the victims, and lift up the survivors and families of The Covenant School. pic.twitter.com/SlQqrnISDt
— John Cooper (@JohnCooper4Nash) March 28, 2023
Cooper also urged the public to donate to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which has set up a Caring for Covenant Fund to support the families of the six victims shot and killed Monday.
You can support the families of the victims of today’s horrific shooting by donating to this fund.
100% of the proceeds will go to victims’ families.
It is important that we stand together on this dark day for Nashville. https://t.co/gwv23RH6aW
— John Cooper (@JohnCooper4Nash) March 27, 2023
The six victims have been identified by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) as Evelyn Dieckhaus, age 9; William Kinney, age 9; Hallie Scruggs, age 9; Mike Hill, age 61; Cynthia Peak, age 61; and Katherine Koonce, ago 60.
The 6 victims fatally shot by the active shooter at Covenant School are identified as: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, Cynthia Peak, age 61, Katherine Koonce, age 60, and Mike Hill, age 61.
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) March 27, 2023
Monday night, MNPD released surveillance footage of the shooter, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, arriving on campus and shooting her way into the school through doors on the side of the building. Hale, according to MNPD, was armed with two assault-type guns and a 9-millimeter pistol.
https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1640545519511404546
The first call to 911 about gunshots being fired in the building came in at 10:13 a.m., according to MNPD.
Body camera footage released by MNPD Tuesday morning worn by two officers – Officer Rex Engelbert, a four-year MNPD veteran, and Officer Michael Collazo, a nine-year MNPD veteran – showed the moment officers entered the school, began clearing the building and running to the sound of gunfire coming from the second story, where they encountered and fatally wounded Hale by 10:27 a.m.
MNPD Officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to the Covenant campus Mon morning. They fired on the active shooter, who was killed. This is their body camera footage. https://t.co/17qsZM6bNp pic.twitter.com/g4b0nMTFRD
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) March 28, 2023
Shortly into the investigation of Hale following the shooting, MNPD announced that it had recovered writings from her that revealed the attack on the school and church was “calculated and planned.”
On Tuesday, MNPD Chief John Drake revealed that, before the shooting, Hale was “under doctors care for an emotional disorder.” Chief Drake also confirmed Monday that Hale “identified as transgender,” as previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Let’s see how many people from the LGBTQXYZ community show up, either in support for the grieving families or for the deranged shooter.
I think I can speak for most of America when I say; as an adult if you want to declare your gender to be different from that which you were born with, that’s your own business, and I don’t really care. But when state governments and our federal government start promoting “gender reassignment” of children, and use our tax dollars to promote an ideology that is in direct violation of Christianity and biological common sense, I find extreme fault with that.