Authorities identified the shooter who stormed a private Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday, killing three students and three staff members, as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old white transgender woman who once attended the school.
According to police, the suspect, who was killed by officers, was also a Nashville resident. According to NBC, the shooter was later identified as Hale.
According to the Violence Project database, women account for only 2% of all mass shooters in the United States, and Monday’s shooter is only the fifth female mass shooter in US history.
A car found near the Covenant School, where the 14-minute shooting spree occurred Monday morning, provided investigators with clues as to the shooter’s identity, Metro Nashville Chief of Police John Drake said at the time.
“But as stated, that investigation is still ongoing,” he added.
Hale, who used he/him pronouns in online profiles and was armed with two assault-style rifles and a pistol, was killed by responding officers on the second floor of the school.
Police said Hale appeared to have previously attended the school, but it wasn’t clear when or for how long.
The school had an active shooter protocol, but it was unclear whether it was implemented during the shooting. Police said at a press conference Monday afternoon that Hale entered the school by shooting at a side door.
At 10:13 a.m., police received the first report of an active shooter. After hearing gunshots from the second floor, responding officers began clearing the first story of the school.
Officials said the shooter was killed by cops at 10:27 a.m.
According to police, the victims were pronounced dead at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The three slain students were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all of whom were nine years old.
Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, both 61, were killed, as was school principal Katherine Koonce, 60.
The Covenant School is a Presbyterian school with approximately 200 students ranging from preschool to sixth grade. The school employs approximately 50 people.
Residents told The Post that police later raided Hale’s home, blocking off surrounding streets in the process.
According to one local, Hale lives at the home of her mother Norma, who works at a nearby church, and father Ron, who is self-employed, and that they last saw her on Sunday.
The source told The Post: “We’re just shocked. We would see [Hale] from time to time, she was very reserved, and very quiet.”
