Video shows police storming building, killing Nashville school shooter
A still image from surveillance video shows Audrey Elizabeth Hale walking in The Covenant School carrying weapons in Nashville.
A heavily armed former school student killed six people, including three children, in a carefully planned attack on a private elementary school in Nashville, in the south of the United States, before the police shot her.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake identified the suspect as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
Drake added that Hale left a manifest and maps of the school detailing control points, entry and exit points, and was "prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement."
In an interview with NBC News, he revealed that the suspect was likely planning a wider attack, as the statement "indicates that there will be shootings in several locations, including the school."
With at least two assault rifles and a handgun, Hale stormed a side entrance to The Covenant School, a Christian academy, and forced her way in while shooting, according to police.
Police stated that the six victims were a six-year-old and two nine-year-olds, while the ages of the three adults who were killed ranged between 60 and 61 years.
One of the victims was Catherine Coons, the principal of the school, according to the academy's website.
Police said their officers rushed to the scene within just 15 minutes of receiving the first emergency call at around 10:00 am (1500 GMT), when the shooter was engaged.
Television footage showed children holding hands as they left school, and a girl crying from behind the window of her school bus as she walked away from the crime scene.
Avery Merrick said her mother, who works as a teacher at The Covenant, hid when she heard the gunshots.
She told NBC's WSMV4 that her mother told her, "She hid in the closet, and there was gunfire everywhere."
Merrick described feeling relieved when she received a call from her mother letting her know that she was okay, but added, "There is still a feeling of pain for those who did not receive such a call."
Shooting incidents in the United States are very common, with a significant increase in firearms in recent years.
US President Joe Biden described this shooting as “abhorrent,” stressing that the armed attacks “tear the spirit” of the United States.
In a speech at the White House, Biden said, "This is an abhorrent act," warning that armed violence "tearing the soul of our nation" and calling again on Congress to ban the sale of automatic weapons to individuals.
