New gun drama in the USA. At least six people, including three children, were killed in a shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville on Monday, police said. The suspect, a heavily armed 28-year-old woman, was shot dead by police.
The young woman, whose motive has not yet been clarified, opened fire on the elementary school of the Protestant Covenant Presbyterian Church in the late morning, armed with two assault rifles and a pistol. The school has around 200 students and around 40 employees. “Nashville police responded and the shooter died,” police said on Twitter.
In the United States, shootings committed by a woman are extremely rare: only 3 in 140 mass shootings in the past forty years, according to the FBI.
“Tragic Situation”
Three patients were treated with gunshot wounds by pediatric wards at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and were pronounced dead on arrival, hospital spokesman John Howser said. Three adults also died, he added.
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee tweeted that he was watching this “tragic situation” and urged America to “pray for the school, community and community of Nashville.”
“That’s enough, President Biden again calls on Congress to act,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. In his State of the Union address, Joe Biden advocated a 1990s-style ban on semi-automatic assault rifles, but it would require the support of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and 60 out of 100 senators, an impossible threshold to reach in a Congress so divided is like never before.