A woman fatally shot three students and three staff members at a private Christian school in Nashville.
The shooter opened fire at The Covenant School at 33 Burton Hills Blvd shortly before 10.15am on Monday. Police who responded to the scene encountered ‘a female who was firing’ with at least two ‘assault-type’ rifles as well as a handgun, said Metropolitan Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron.
‘We now know that there are three students who were fatally wounded as well as three adults inside the school,’ said Aaron.
‘We are working to identify those victims. Including the shooter, a total of seven persons were killed as a result of this morning’s incident at the school.’
The shooter was identified as a 28-year-old woman from Nashville by police, after authorities initially said she ‘appeared’ to be a teenager.
‘Two MNPD officers who entered the building and went to the sounds of gunfire engaged the shooter on the second floor and fatally shot her,’ tweeted the police department in the afternoon.
The police response was ‘swift’, Aaron said. Cops entered the first story of the school, which is part of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, and began clearing it. They heard gunshots coming from the second floor and ‘they immediately went to the gunfire’, saw the female firing and fatally shot her, he said.
She was deceased by 10.27am.
The woman entered the school building from a side entrance, cops said.
‘We do not know who she is,’ he said, adding that it was not known if she had a connection the school.
Five of the six massacre victims were rushed to a nearby hospital, and all who were shot died.
‘Three students who were shot are deceased. Three staff members who were shot are deceased,’ Aaron said.
The Nashville Fire Department tweeted at 11.39am that they were ‘responding to an active aggressor’ at the school.
‘We can confirm we have multiple patients,’ stated the fire department.
Students and being reunited with their parents at Woodmont Baptist Church at 2100 Woodmont Blvd.
The motive of the shooting was not immediately known.
A police officer sustained ‘a hand injury as a result of making an attack on this incident’, said Kendra Loney of the fire department.
No other injuries have been reported.
Fire officials said they tried to provide life-saving aid to the victims.
‘Our crews were able to be on scene to pull out those that had viable signs of life, those that were still showing the option to be saved,’ said Kendra Loney of the fire department.
Tennessee Representative Bob Freeman, who lives around the corner from the school, called the shooting ‘an unimaginable tragedy for the victims, all the children, families, teachers, staff and my entire community’.
‘It tears my heart apart to see this. I’m praying for my neighborhood, my city and my state,’ stated Freeman. ‘It is time to pull together and provide all the love and support that we can to those affected by this terrible catastrophe. It is time for serious action.’
The Covenant School serves preschool through 6th grade, according to its website. About 200 students and 40 to 50 staff were inside the school on a usual day, Aaron said.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and was expected to address it on Monday afternoon. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called on lawmakers to pass stricter gun safety legislation.
‘How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban, to close loopholes in our background check system, or to require the safe storage of guns?’ she said.
‘We need to do something.’
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