Police Tuesday tried to uncover the reasons that may have led a former student to plan a bloody attack on a small Christian school in Nashville, in the southern United States.
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The slaughter, which claimed the lives of three children and three adults, sent fresh shock waves across the country, where guns have become the leading killer of underage people.
The shooter, armed with two assault rifles and a pistol, was shot by the police less than fifteen minutes after the first call for help.
After describing him as a young woman, law enforcement clarified that he was a 28-year-old transgender person named Audrey Hale, who used male pronouns to describe herself online.
Police Chief John Drake says it was “a targeted attack”: Audrey Hale was in possession of school maps showing entrances and exits and was “prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement”.
When asked about his motives, the officer mentioned possible “resentment” towards the “Covenant School,” a school that defends traditional religious values, where the attacker was educated during his childhood.
John Drake has acknowledged the “existence of the theory” surrounding his gender identity. “We are following any leads and will update you when we are certain,” he added during a press conference Monday night.
Clarifications may come from writings left by Audrey Hale. In fact, during a search of his home, police found a document they called a “manifesto.”
Shortly before the action, the young shooter also sent a message to an acquaintance to tell him that “something bad” was about to happen. “One day it will be clearer,” Audrey Hale wrote, according to local broadcaster WTVF. “I left enough evidence.”
His interlocutor, Averianna Patton, had called police at 10.13am but was not contacted again until after the tragedy.
Almost simultaneously, Audrey Hale forced entry into Covenant School by shooting through a glass door. CCTV footage released by police shows a heavily armed figure with a red scarf over his head moving through the building.
The attacker then went to the first floor of the school and fired numerous shots, killing three children aged 8 to 9 and three adults aged 60 to 61.
Among his victims are Katherine Koonce, the school’s principal, and Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of the pastor of the local Presbyterian church that houses the Covenant School.
From the first floor, the former student shot at the police arriving in the hurricane. Body camera footage shows officers walking down hallways adorned with children’s drawings and repeatedly shooting at Audrey Hale, who collapses.
He was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m. According to police, he had a large stash of ammunition and was “ready to do more damage.”
In Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, the population was in shock. “We heard about the shooting, but it’s different when it’s on your doorstep,” Stacie Wilford, a nurse who prayed at an improvised altar commemorating the victims on Monday night, told AFP.
This mother explained that her children, who went to school not far from the scene of the tragedy, were “lost and frightened”.
The political class shared that emotion but were again at odds over the role of firearms: Democratic President Joe Biden renewed his call for a ban on assault rifles, an option Republican-elected officials strenuously oppose.
About 400 million firearms are in circulation in the United States, where they caused more than 45,000 deaths by suicide, accident or homicide in 2020, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
For the first time this year, guns became the leading cause of death among young people under 19, with 4,368 deaths from car accidents and drug overdoses, according to the CDC.
Despite this, a majority of Americans remain very attached to carrying guns in the name of the right to self-defense, and several voices have been expressed regretting the lack of armed staff at the school.