Somto Bisina
Six people, three children and three staff – have been killed in a shooting by an ex-student at a school in the US city of Nashville, Tennessee.
Three of the victims were pupils aged nine or under, police named them as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The adult victims were named as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPolice said the suspect was 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who identified as transgender. Hale was armed with three guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, and was shot dead by police, according to NBC News.
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The shooting occurred at The Covenant School on Burton Hills Boulevard, which serves preschool students through sixth graders. There, officers “engaged” the heavily-armed woman, whose name was not released as of Monday afternoon.
The shooter, who police believe was a former student at the Christian grade school. was shot and killed by police on the school’s second floor, a police spokesperson said. Authorities added hat she had two “assault-type rifles and a handgun.”
Meanwhile, students at the school were transported to nearby Woodmont Baptist Church to be safely reunited with their families.
“The police department response was swift,” police spokesperson Don Aaron told reporters. “They heard shots coming from the second level.
They immediately went to the gunfire. When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her. She was fatally shot by responding police officers.”
Video later released by Nashville police show Hale using a gun to gain entry by shattering glass panes on the front doors, then wandering the school’s deserted corridors – at one point walking past a room labelled “Children’s Ministry”.
In the CCTV footage, Hale is wearing what looks to be a protective vest and carrying an assault-style rifle in one hand, with a second, similar weapon also visible hanging from the left hip.
