28th March, 2023
The Nashville police have released the names of the six people shot dead at Covenant School, an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Audrey Hale, 28, had entered the school and opened fire on students, killing six people.
According to the police, three of those killed were children aged nine years. Their names are: Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9; Hallie Scruggs, 9 and William Kinney, 9.
Three others killed were adults. Their names are: Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60 and Mike Hill, 61.
Hale, a former student of the school, gained entry to Covenant School, by shooting through a door.
She killed three students and three adults before she was gunned down by the police.
During their investigation they discovered a “manifesto” and a “map drawn out of how all this was going to take place”.
Police said they have a theory about motive, but that they could not confirm it at this time, BBC reports.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper said he was “overwhelmed by the loss” of life in the shooting.
“14 minutes from start to finish” was all it took to take the lives of six people, he said.
“Those guns stole precious lives from us today from Nashville. In this dark hour let us support each other, let us hug our children a little bit closer tonight,” he said.
Audrey Hale was a Nashville resident. She was armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun when she was confronted by five officers. Investigators were searching through the shooter’s home, Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said.