By Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Zoe Sottile, Amir Vera, Meg Wagner, Veronica Rocha, Melissa Macaya and Helen Regan, CNN
Two Covenant School employees are among the victims of Monday's mass shooting, according to the school.
Katherine Koonce was identified as the head of the school on its website.
Mike Hill was identified in the staff section of the Covenant Presbyterian Church’s website, which is now offline. He was listed as facilities/kitchen staff. A friend of Mike Hill confirmed his image to CNN. Hill, 61, was a custodian at the school, per police.
From CNN's DJ Judd
President Joe Biden has ordered the flags at the White House and all federal buildings be flown at half-staff to honor the victims from Monday's school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.
The order will be in effect until Friday, according to the White House.
From CNN’s Sara Smart
A mother who lost her son in a 2018 mass shooting told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Monday’s shooting in Nashville took her back to that moment as her other son was in lockdown at a nearby high school.
Shaundelle Brooks lost her son, Akilah DaSilva, during a mass shooting at a Nashville-area Waffle House in 2018. Her other son, Aldane Brooks, was placed on lockdown at a nearby high school on Monday when the shooting occurred at Covenant School.
“We didn’t know if we were safe,” Aldane Brooks told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “We didn’t know if someone was coming to kill us or not.”
“My heart dropped,” Shaundelle Brooks said. “Here we are again, another mass shooting,”
Brooks added that she wanted to race to her son's school the moment she heard news of a shooting, but he told her to wait as they had no information as to what was going on.
“We’re not safe anywhere,” Brooks said, “We’re not safe in schools, we’re not safe when we go out to eat, we’re not safe in church, we’re not safe at the Waffle House.”
Brooks said she thinks about mass shootings every time she drops her son off at school.
The mother and son addressed families of the victims of Monday’s shooting saying they “understand this feeling first hand.”
“The pain will forever be there, but you’re not alone,” Aldane Brooks said.
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
In a tweet, Metro Nashville Police shared a photo of the car driven by Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale as well as the doors that the shooter shot out to gain entry into the school.
Inside the vehicle, additional material written by the shooter was found, the tweet said.
“Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, drove this Honda Fit to the Covenant Church/school campus this morning and parked. MNPD detectives searched it and found additional material written by Hale.”
In a second tweet, police released photos of the doors the shooter shot out to enter the building.
“Hale entered the Covenant building after shooting out the glass of these doors,” the tweet said.
From CNN’s Sara Smart
A survivor of the Highland Park, Illinois shooting in July was visiting Nashville at time of Monday’s shooting at Covenant School.
Ashbey Beasley told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday evening that she was visiting her sister-in-law in Nashville and was set to have lunch with a friend when she heard about the shooting.
“My heart broke,” Beasley said, “This is where we’re at, we have children living through multiple mass shooting incidences, what are we doing?”
Following the Highland Park shooting, Beasley has joined a gun violence prevention group and dedicated her life to making a change with gun laws.
“It’s the access to guns that is killing us,” Beasley said, “We’re not going to see any change until our lawmakers step up and pass gun safety legislation,”
“Unfortunately that’s where we’re at, we have to take care of each other, survivors have to take care of each other,” Beasley said.
Beasley jumped in a news conference earlier Monday, following the Nashville shooting, to protest against gun violence.
Former president Barack Obama took to Twitter to share the video of Beasley during that news conference saying, “We are failing our children. Guns are now the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. Michelle and I mourn with the students and families of the Covenant School today.”
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
The shooter who killed six people at Covenant School in Nashville Monday may have resented having to attend the school in the past, according to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
Police said Monday they believe the 28-year-old shooter attended the school, but they weren't sure what years.
“There’s some belief that there was some resentment at having to go to that school, don’t have all the details for that just yet, and that’s why this incident occurred,” Drake said during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt on Nightly News.
Drake said the shooter targeted random people in the school.
From CNN staff
At least three students and three adults are dead following a shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, the Metro Nashville Police Department said Monday. The students who were killed were all 9 years old, police said.
The shooter, who was identified as a 28-year-old former student of the school, was also killed in a shootout with police.
Here's what we know so far:
From CNN's Jamiel Lynch
In a statement sent to CNN, Bryan Chapell of the Presbyterian Church in America expressed the church's condolences to the victims of the Covenant School shooting.
“Our heartfelt concerns and prayers are for the families of Covenant Presbyterian Church, the Covenant School and the Nashville community. We grieve the loss and trauma associated with this horrible tragedy. May God comfort all who mourn. May He provide wisdom to the authorities as they investigate as well as to the church leadership as they minister to a grieving congregation and community.”
Covenant School was founded as a ministry of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, according to its website. The church is part of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Police will spend the next two days processing the scene and working to gather more details about what happened during a shooting at a Nashville elementary school, the Metro Nashville Police Department said.
This will likely occur Monday evening into Tuesday, said the department's spokesperson, Don Aaron.
Aaron said police also intend to release video soon.
Police also said they knew where the shooter lived and they interviewed the shooter's father and will continue their investigation.
