March 28, 2023 - Nashville elementary school shooting

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Communities are mourning the victims of a mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. Three children and three adults were killed Monday at the Covenant School — a private Christian elementary school, according to police.

The city of Nashville plans to hold a vigil Wednesday night “to mourn and honor the precious lives lost at The Covenant School,” a flyer for the event shared by Mayor John Cooper said.

Here’s what we know so far:

The victims: The victims of the shooting include Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9; Mike Hill, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; Cynthia Peak, 61; Hallie Scruggs, 9; and William Kinney, 9. Authorities believe the six victims were targeted randomly. President Joe Biden has not yet spoken to any of the families of the victims, but said he is “working on that now.”

What happened: Monday’s shooting unfolded over about 14 minutes, according to police, and spanned two floors of the school. Police first received a call about an active shooter inside Covenant school at 10:13 a.m. local time, police spokesperson Don Aaron said, and rushed to the scene. The first five responding officers heard gunfire coming from the second floor. They went upstairs and confronted the shooter, who “had been firing through a window at arriving police cars,” police said in a news release. Two officers then opened fire, killing the shooter at 10:27 a.m. local time, Aaron said. Here’s a full timeline of how the shooting went down.

The shooter: Audrey Hale, 28, was under care for an “emotional disorder,” according to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake. He said Tuesday that Hale, who was a former student of the Covenant School, purchased at least seven guns legally and locally. Investigators have yet to determine a motive, but believe the school itself was targeted.

Gun reform: Biden suggested Tuesday that any future action on gun violence will fall to Congress, as he said he has exhausted all executive actions. In wake of the shooting, he reiterated his call for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban Tuesday and said there is a “moral price to pay for inaction.” According to three senior administration officials, White House officials are not currently planning a major new push around gun safety reform.

Grim statistics: Monday’s shooting is the deadliest school shooting since the the attack in Uvalde, Texas last May. There have been at least 130 mass shootings in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, including Monday’s deadly shooting. There have been more shootings at this point in 2023 than in any previous year since at least 2013. The US is the only developed country where mass shootings have happened every single year for the past 20 years, according to Jason R. Silva, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at William Paterson University.

The city of Nashville is planning a vigil on Wednesday night, according to a tweet from Nashville Mayor John Cooper. 

 It will take place at One Public Square park at 5:30 p.m. local time. 

The city has also set up a fund to help support the survivors of the shooting, the mayor said.

Gov. Bill Lee

Tennessee first lady Maria Lee was close friends with one of the people killed in the shooting at the Covenant School on Monday, Gov. Bill Lee said.

Gov. Lee, speaking in a video statement Tuesday, talked about the close relationship his wife had with Cynthia Peak.

Peak was supposed to come over to Lee’s home Monday evening to have dinner with the first lady after filling in as a substitute teacher at Covenant, he said. 

Koonce, the head of the school, was also killed in the shooting.

“All of Tennessee was hurt yesterday,” Lee said.

The governor said things need to change and that there is more work to do.

“We can all agree on one thing – that every human life has great value. We will act to prevent this from happening again. There is a clear desire in all of us, whether we agree on the action steps or not, that we must work to find ways to protect against evil,” Lee said.

A majority of both young adults and the American public at large support the idea of stricter gun laws, polling finds.

In a new Harvard Youth Poll released Tuesday and completed before the shooting at a Nashville elementary school Monday, 63% of 18-to-29-year-olds say that gun laws should be stricter, with 22% saying they should be kept as they are and 13% that they should be made less strict.

That’s similar to a 2018 poll by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Harvard Kennedy School taken in the wake of the Parkland shooting when 64% of young Americans thought gun laws should be made more strict. 

Young Americans’ views are generally similar to those of the public as a whole. In a Gallup survey from October 2022, a 57% majority of all Americans said that laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, with 32% saying laws should be kept as they were and 10% that laws should be made less strict. 

Gallup’s polling has consistently found a majority in support of stricter gun laws since 2015. But the 57% who supported stricter gun laws in the latest poll marks a downtick from the 66% who supported stricter gun laws following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas late last May. Support for new gun restrictions often spikes in the immediate wake of high-profile mass shootings, before leveling off later. 

Other polls taken after the Uvalde shooting also found significant support for several new gun regulations.

Here’s what a CBS News poll found last summer:

An August 2022 AP-NORC poll similarly found that 85% favored a federal law requiring background checks on all potential gun buyers, including private sales and gun shows, while 59% favored a nationwide ban on the sale of AR-15 rifles and similar semiautomatic weapons.

Mike Hill

Mike Hill, 61, who was killed in the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville where he worked, was the father of seven children and had 14 grandkids, his family said in a statement obtained by CNN affiliate WSMV. He loved to cook and spend time with his family, it added. 

His family thanked those who sent their “thoughts and prayers” and asked for ongoing support as they “grieve and try to grasp any sense of understanding of why this happened.”

Nashville parents have set up a GoFundMe for Hill to help his family with funeral expenses. He was known as “Big Mike” to his students, the GoFundMe said.

His daughter, Brittany Hill, said in a Facebook post on Monday that her dad “absolutely loved” his job. 

“I have watched school shootings happen over the years and never thought I would lose a loved one over a person trying to solve a temporary problem with a permanent solution,” she wrote. “I am so sorry for the loss of those children,” she added. 

“Please keep my family in your prayers tonight. Hug your parents and children a little tighter,” she said in the post.

CNN’s Taliah Miller and Jillian Sykes contributed reporting to this post.

The sense of safety inside the Covenant School in Nashville was shattered Monday when a former student burst into the private Christian school wielding an assault-style rifle and killed three 9-year-old children and three adults.

The shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was killed by police. Authorities believe the six victims were targeted randomly.

Here’s a timeline of what happened:

9:57 a.m.

Hale sends an ominous message to childhood friend Averianna Patton on Instagram, Patton told CNN on Tuesday. The direct message from Hale said, “I’m planning to die today” and that Patton would see it on the news.

Disturbed by the message, Patton contacted her father for advice. He suggested she call a suicide prevention line for assistance, which she did. But because Patton was not the person at risk of harming herself, the call recipient advised Patton to contact local law enforcement, she said.

Around 10:13 a.m.

Patton calls the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office in Nashville but was on hold for “maybe like 7 minutes,” she said. By then, the deadly rampage at Covenant School had already started.

10:13 a.m.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department receives a call about an active shooter inside the school. Surveillance video shows the shooter entering the school by firing through glass doors and climbing through.

Broken glass is seen on the ground at the entrance that Hale used. 

10:18 a.m.

Timestamped surveillance footage from inside the school shows Hale armed with multiple weapons walking down a hallway.

Surveillance footage shows Hale inside the building. 

10:24 a.m.

Nashville officers arrive at the school, Police Chief John Drake said. Bodycam footage shows police entering the school amid wailing fire alarms and immediately going to several rooms to look for the shooter.

Officers hear gunfire on the second floor and rush up the stairs as the shots grow louder, the video shows.

Police move through The Covenant School. 

10:27 a.m.

Officer Rex Engelbert sees the shooter and fires about four rounds with an assault-style rifle. His bodycam footage shows the attacker collapsing.

Officer Michael Collazo then moved toward the shooter while it appeared a gun was still in the assailant’s hand. Collazo appeared to shoot the attacker on the ground four times with a handgun, yelling “Stop moving!” The officers finally approached the assailant, moved a gun away and then radioed “Suspect down! Suspect down!”

Sports teams are honoring the people killed in a shooting at a Nashville elementary school on Monday.

There will be a moment of silence observed before Tuesday night’s NHL game between the Nashville Predators and the Boston Bruins, the Boston team announced. Players from both teams are also set to wear helmet decals with the Covenant School insignia.

Boston said its foundation will donate $10,000 to Nashville’s foundation “to support their efforts in helping the victims’ families.”

In its own statement, the Predators said the team is moving “forward with heavy hearts in preparation” for Tuesday’s game.

“We will do our best to be mindful and respectful of the more important things in society today, continuing to pray for the shooting victims, their families and the entire Covenant School family, our hearts filled with love and hope for everyone affected,” the team said in a tweet.

Vanderbilt Baseball announced that ticket proceeds from its game against Lipscomb Tuesday will go toward the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to benefit the Covenant School.

The money will be “supporting those affected by the tragedy that unfolded in the Nashville community on Monday,” the team said on its website.

Editor’s note: This post contains graphic descriptions of violence.

The Metro Nashville Police Department released body-camera footage of at least two police officers who responded to Monday’s shooting at Covenant School.

The footage is from the body-worn cameras of officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, who police said fatally shot the attacker on Monday at 10:27 a.m. local time.

At the start of the six-minute video, Engelbert is seen arriving at the school and exiting his vehicle. He grabs a long rifle from the car’s trunk and heads toward one part of the building before heading toward a door. The officer approaches a woman outside the school who says the school is on lockdown but there are two children unaccounted for. 

The woman, a school official, directs Engelbert to go upstairs.

Another school official is seen handing the officer a key to open an exterior door into the building. Engelbert yells to his fellow officers: “Let’s go, I need three!” 

Engelbert enters the school — about one minute after pulling up to the building — with other officers following and immediately getting into a tactical formation. About three minutes into the video, gunshots are heard in the distance and an officer is heard saying “It’s upstairs, sounds like it’s upstairs.”

The officers rush up a stairwell as the gunshots grow louder. 

The flashes from the shooter’s gunfire are seen in Collazo’s bodycam footage, which leads the officers down a hall to the suspect’s position.

The officers approach the sound of gunfire and Engelbert rounds a corner and fires multiple times at a person near a large window, who drops to the ground, the video shows.

Collazo then pushes forward and appears to shoot the person on the ground four times with a handgun, yelling, “Stop moving!” The officers finally approach the person, move a gun away and then radio, “Suspect down! Suspect down!

Cynthia Peak

Along with the Nashville community, people outside of Tennessee are grieving Cynthia Peak, 61, who was killed on Monday during a shooting at The Covenant School.

Peak, whom police believe to have been a substitute teacher at the school, is from Leesville, Louisiana, where childhood friends are remembering her.

Louisiana state Rep. Charles Anthony Owen said he has known Peak his whole life.

Owen said in the Facebook post that when his sister Mae died, Peak was one of the first faces he recalled seeing.

“She was right here to grieve her old friend,” he said. 

“I grieve through tears as I write these words, but I know Cindy is in Heaven with her father, Dr. Bill Broyles, her mother, Nell Broyles, and her oldest sister, Diane. I also can take solace that she and my sister are once again holding hands and smiling,” he added.

Biden talks with reporters as he boards Air Force One at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, March 28.

President Joe Biden has not spoken to any of the families of the six victims killed during a school shooting in Nashville Monday, but said he is “working on that now.” 

The president told reporters traveling with him in Durham, North Carolina, that he has talked to “everyone but the families,” including the police chief and the two officers who entered the building and confronted the shooter.

Biden also expanded on his conversation with Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, telling reporters, “I expressed my concern and asked him if there was anything I could do to be able to help, and I understand from some folks he’s a fairly reasonable guy.” 

The president said discussions about possible plans to visit Nashville are “underway now,” and his team is trying to figure out “what helps the most.” 

Biden said that calls for Congress to pass legislation curbing gun violence are focused on exposure.

He reiterated that there’s “nothing absolute about any amendment,” including the 2nd Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms.

“This is ridiculous, and it’s all about money,” he said. “Big, big, big money.”

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland

In light of calls from lawmakers for the Department of Justice to investigate the deadly school shooting in Nashville as a hate crime, officials say they are focusing on identifying the motive of the Nashville school shooter.

In response to a question about the instance possibly being a hate crime targeting Christians, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland said investigators are “working full time” on this objective.

The shooting took place at Covenant School, a Christian private school.

“Of course, motive is what determines whether it’s a hate crime or not,” he added.

Some background: Earlier Tuesday, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley said he believed that the shooting in Nashville should be investigated as a hate crime. 

“We need to find out more about this individual, whether this person should have firearms at all — maybe should not have,” Hawley said. 

Garland was testifying about the DOJ budget request before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Katherine Koonce

Jim and Monica Lee are remembering their friend and former coworker Katherine Koonce as a wonderful human being who was sassy and full of grace. 

Koonce was one of the six people killed at the Monday shooting in at the Covenant School in Nashville, where she worked, Monday.

Jim Lee, who is an airline pilot, said when he heard about the shooting, he texted Koonce right away, but she never texted back. He started to get worried and tried to get in contact with other people who worked at the school. 

Soon, he got a text saying his friend was shot and later died at the hospital.

The Lees flew to Nashville when they heard about the shooting and the death of their friend because they just wanted to be back in the community. They now live in Atlanta.

Jim Lee described Koonce as being witty and sassy with a “crazy sense of humor.” He said she made people feel like they were the most important person when she talked with them, everyone from her preschool students to board members and presents at the school.

“She had this amazing confidence but she was a person of grace,” he said. “She was an educator, but she also had great pastoral and counseling and nurturing skills or she had those CEO skills that could tell you that you need to kind of get in your place,” he added, with a laugh.

“They just lost hugely at this school,” Monica Lee added. “They’re going to have a hard time filling her shoes.”

Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled Jim Lee’s first name.

Police found writings with school shooter Audrey Hale’s body as well as in Hale’s car, according to Don Aaron, the Metro Nashville Police Department’s public affairs director.

Both documents were different, and detectives from the city’s homicide and intelligence bureaus are reviewing the writings, Aaron told CNN on Tuesday. 

In the writings, Hale mentioned a mall near the site of The Covenant School shooting as another possible target, according to the spokesperson. 

Aaron would not confirm if the location was the Mall at Green Hills, which is up the street from the school. 

Nashville Police Chief John Drake said writings mentioned shootings at “multiple locations,” including at the school. 

Hale killed three children and three adults on Monday before being fatally shot by responding police officers.

Aaron also discussed the seven weapons that police say Hale had owned.

In addition to the three weapons at the scene on Monday, two shotguns were taken from Hale’s home, Aaron said. Police believe one weapon had been sold and the seventh weapon remains unaccounted for.

Aaron said the seven weapons were purchased between October 20, 2020, and June 6, 2022.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Wolfspeed, a semiconductor manufacturer, in Durham, North Carolina, on Tuesday, March 28.

President Joe Biden addressed Nashville’s deadly school shooting while speaking at an event in Durham, North Carolina, Tuesday, reiterating his call for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban and saying there was a “moral price to pay for inaction.”

“As a nation we owe these families more than our prayers,” Biden said of the families of the six people who were killed Monday when a 28-year-old former student opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville. “We owe them action.”

The president called himself a “Second Amendment guy,” noting he owns shotguns. But he characterized the weapons often used in mass shootings as “weapons of war.”

“Why in God’s name do we allow these weapons of war on our streets?” he asked.

The president pointed to bipartisan gun safety legislation he signed into law last year, after the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, saying, “Don’t tell me we can’t do more together.”

“It’s a common sense issue,” Biden said. “We have to act now.”

Firearms were the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2021, for the second year in a row, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Firearms first surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in 2020, after a sharp increase in the first year of the pandemic. Deaths from both firearms and motor vehicle crashes increased again in 2021, CDC data shows. 

In 2021, at least 4,733 children and adolescents ages 1 to 19 died from firearms. That’s a 9% increase from the year before, representing nearly 400 more deaths. About 4,300 children and adolescents died from motor vehicle crashes in 2021.

About a tenth of all firearm-related deaths in the United States were among children and adolescents. 

Additional analysis from the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention shows that firearm injuries, motor vehicle crashes and drug poisonings represent nearly half of all deaths among children and adolescents.

The shooter was under care for an “emotional disorder,” Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Tuesday.

“Law enforcement knew nothing about the treatment” 28-year-old Aubrey Hale was receiving, he added.

Hale’s parents “felt that (Hale) should not own weapons” and were under the impression Hale had sold one weapon and “did not own any more,” Drake said.

“As it turned out, (Hale) had been hiding several weapons within the house,” Drake said.

Investigators have yet to determine a motive in Monday’s shooting at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters in a news conference Tuesday.

Writings from the shooter — who has been identified as a 28-year-old former student of the Covenant School — included a map of the school, Drake said, indicating how the shooter planned to enter the building and carry out the attack. Other places were also mentioned in those writings and are being investigated by the Metro Nashville Police Department and the FBI, per Drake.

At this time, investigators believe the school itself was targeted, police spokesperson Don Aaron said, though authorities have no evidence specific individuals were targeted.

“This school, this church building, was a target of the shooter, but we have no information at present to indicate that the shooter was specifically targeting any one of the six individuals who were murdered,” Aaron said.

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake speaks at a press conference on Tuesday.

The shooter who killed six people at a private school in Nashville purchased at least seven guns legally and locally, according to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake.

Drake said those seven firearms were purchased from five different gun stores in Nashville. Three of the guns were used during the shooting at Covenant School Monday, he said.

Police previously said the shooter was armed with a handgun and two AR-style weapons — one rifle and an AR-style pistol.

Drake said investigators have spoken to the parents of the shooter, Audrey Hale. They believed the shooter did buy at least one weapon, but eventually sold it.

The shooter’s parents also told police Hale had a red bag when Hale was leaving the house ahead of the shooting. They asked Hale what was in the bag, but ultimately dismissed it, thinking Hale didn’t own any weapons, according to Drake.

Police believe the shooter was hiding the guns in the house.

The Metro Nashville Police Department is expected to give an update soon on its investigation into Monday’s deadly shooting at an elementary school.

Earlier Tuesday, police released body-camera footage from two officers who police say fatally shot the attacker.