Armed with two “assault-style” guns and a pistol, a former pupil murdered three children and three adults on Monday at a Christian elementary school in Nashville after meticulously plotting the slaughter with a comprehensive map and building surveillance, according to authorities.
The massacre at the Covenant school in Nashville was the most recent in a string of horrific shootings that have left the nation increasingly alarmed.
At the Covenant school, which is connected to the Covenant Presbyterian church in the state capital of Tennessee, police shot and killed the assailant.
Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all nine years old; Cynthia Peak, a substitute teacher, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, a custodian, 61; were the fatalities, according to Nashville police.
The head of the school, Katherine Koonce, is identified on the website of the school, a Presbyterian institution established in 2001. According to her LinkedIn page, she has been the school’s principal since July 2016.
Megan Hill’s day of suffering lasted six hours and was chronicled in Facebook posts in which she described herself as the victim’s niece.
“Shooting at the school where my Dad, my uncle and my stepmom work please pray right now,” she wrote at about noon local time.
Six hours later, she posted an update.
“I’m just in shock and disbelief,” wrote Hill. “My heart is torn I can not understand why someone would shoot up a school with lovely babies inside.”
“My uncle lost his life in this shooting today,” she wrote. “Pray for all my cousins, Lord help me and my family,” said the brother of my mother.
Joseph Biden expressed regret for the “heartbreaking” tragedy and reiterated his urge for Congress to implement significant gun control legislation, including a prohibition on assault rifles.
We have to do more to stop gun violence ripping our communities apart,” the president stated at the White House. “It’s stealing the soul out of our country.
The Nashville police chief, John Drake, said: “I was genuinely moved to tears to watch this and the kids as they were being hustled out of the building.”
In 2020, weapons replaced vehicle accidents as the main cause of mortality among children and teenagers.
When families discovered their children, Rachel Dibble, who was present, described the scenario as everyone being in “total astonishment.”
According to Dibble, whose children attend a separate private school in Nashville, “people were shaking uncontrollably.”
The kids got their Froot Loops this morning while wearing their adorable little uniforms, and now their entire lives have altered.
Upon learning of the incident, Dr. Shamendar Talwar, a social psychologist from the UK who is working on an unrelated mental health project in Nashville, hurried to the church to give assistance. He said that he was one of several chaplains, psychologists, life coaches, and church members who were inside assisting the families.
