Three children and three adults have been killed in a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, by a former student.
The attack took place at The Covenant School, a private Christian school for students aged three to 11.
The three students who died were nine years old.
Police said the suspect entered the school by shooting through the door. A search of his home resulted in officers seizing more firearms.
The victims have been identified as Evelyn Deckhaus, Haley Scruggs and William Kinney.
The adults have been identified as Cynthia Peck, 61, Catherine Conse, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
The suspect has been identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, officers said.
There has been some confusion about Hale’s gender identity — police initially described the attacker as a woman, and later said Hale identified as transgender.
A police spokesman told JEE Newst that Hale was “a biological female who used a male pronoun on a social media profile”.
The shooter was armed with three guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, and was shot dead by police.
He left a manifesto and drew a detailed map of the school with entry points. The police are now studying these documents.
Hale, who had no criminal record, was a former student at the school and officers said they believed “resentment” may have been the motive.
Police received the first call about the incident at 10:13 local time (15:13 GMT) on Monday.
The suspect drove to the school and shot through one of the school’s doors, which were all locked.
Video later released by Nashville police shows Hale breaking the glass on the front doors and using a gun to gain entry, then walking through the school’s deserted hallways — at one point calling out “kids.” Passes by a room labeled “Ministry”.
In the CCTV footage, Hale is seen wearing a protective jacket and holding an assault-style rifle in one hand, with the other, a similar weapon hanging from his left hip.
Hale fired shots on the ground floor before going upstairs.
As police cars arrived, Hale fired at them, hitting one in the windshield, police said.
An official was injured due to the glass breaking. Police moved in and shot and killed the suspect at 10:27 a.m.
A search of a car parked nearby led officers to “firmly believe” Hale was a former student at the school, police said.
Police spoke to the attacker’s father while searching a nearby home that had the attacker’s address listed on it.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said investigators there have found a manifesto and “a map of how this is all going to happen,” including entrances and exits to the school building.
He also said that the assailant had conducted surveillance while planning the attack.
During a search of the shooter’s home, in addition to the weapons used in the attack, additional weapons were recovered, including a sawed-off shotgun and a second shotgun.
Hale’s mother, Norma Hale, told JEE News: “It’s very difficult at the moment”, before asking for privacy.
The Presbyterian-affiliated Covenant School is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of south central Nashville.
In a statement, the school said “our community is heartbroken.”
“We are deeply saddened by the loss and shocked by the terror that destroyed our school and church.”
The mother of one of the students said that her son was traumatized. “I think he’s doing better now that he knows the shooter is dead,” Shondell Brooks told JEE News.
“These are conversations we shouldn’t be having,” he added. “We’re failing our kids.”
Hours after the shooting, a memorial service was held for the victims at nearby Woodmont Christian Church.
Senior minister Clay Stauffer tearfully said that Evelyn Dekhouse’s sister, who is 11, plans to be baptized in a few weeks, according to local outlet Tennessean.
“I don’t want to be an only child,” Evelyn’s sister cried.
President Joe Biden called the shooting “a family’s worst nightmare.”
“We have to do more to stop gun violence,” he said, again urging Congress to pass tougher gun control laws. “It’s tearing our communities apart, and tearing at the soul of this nation.”
The attack was the 129th mass shooting in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence data.
As of last weekend, there had been 12 school shootings in the U.S. this year that resulted in deaths or injuries, according to data compiled by Education Week.
