The person was eventually shot by police killing six people, including three nine-year-olds, with legally obtained weapons. She studied there as a child and, according to police, identified as transgender.
Horrific scenes unfolded Monday at Covenant Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. A heavily armed woman killed six people, including three nine-year-olds. She used to go to school here. The Military Police were triggered around 10 am this Monday. “When officers got to the second floor, they saw an armed man, a woman, shooting,” said Don Aaron of the Nashville Police Department.
“We know she was armed with at least two assault rifles and a pistol.” The 28-year-old was shot dead by emergency services. This prevented worse things from happening, Nashville Police Chief John Drake later made clear. According to the police, the three dead adults are school employees and their age is 60 years old.
US President Joe Biden ordered flags across the country to be flown at half-staff on Friday night in honor of the victims of “this senseless act of violence”. The order applies to the White House, all public buildings, military installations and US embassies.
Christian school with about 200 children
Covenant Elementary School is a private Christian school located on a green hill in Nashville – the capital of Tennessee with a population of nearly 700,000. The gray stone school buildings are set in peaceful woodland. The school serves children from first to sixth grade. There is also a kindergarten there. According to the local newspaper “The Tennessean”, about 200 children are cared for here. The facility advertises with a Christian mission statement and offering children a safe place where they can develop freely.
Investigators are now evaluating material that may provide information about the shooter’s motive. “We have a manifest, we have some writings relating to that day, that incident, that we are evaluating,” Police Commissioner Drake said. Maps of the school were also found, on which, among other things, surveillance cameras and entrances were drawn. The shooter broke through an outer glass door and thus gained access. Police released surveillance camera footage showing them entering the school with weapons raised. According to police, the woman was carrying more ammunition and may have wanted to hit other crime scenes as well.
Transpessoa had legally owned guns
According to police, it is a woman from Nashville, a former student of the establishment. She graduated from a college in the city with a degree in art and design last year. Authorities say she identifies as transgender. This is the name given to people who do not identify – or not only – with the sex that was documented at birth. Investigators said nothing about any connection between the shooter’s life story and his crime. “There’s a theory at the moment that we can talk about later, but it’s not confirmed,” Drake said. Police say the woman bought her guns legally. In the USA, shootings and even riots are part of the sad everyday life. Most perpetrators are men.
After the new attack, President Biden immediately called for tougher gun laws in the country. But his predecessors repeatedly failed in attempts to persuade the parliament, which was rife with party political dissent, to ban assault rifles and other effective protective measures.
(APA/dpa)