PICTURED: Girl, 9, killed along with two schoolmates by transgender gunman at Nashville Christian School as principal, 60, janitor and wife, both 61, are named as remaining victims
- Three nine-year-old children – Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney – were shot dead at their Nashville school on Monday
- Three adults – Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, both 61, and principal Katherine Koonce, 60 – were also killed
- A local woman, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who attended the school was named as the attacker: she was shot by police within 15 minutes of her arrival
Katherine Koonce, headmistress, was among those shot by Audrey Hale
The three children and three staff members who were shot and killed by a transgender woman attacker at a Nashville school were named by police, who confirmed the attacker had previously attended the Christian school.
The nine-year-old victims were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
Three adults also died: substitute teacher Cynthia Peak and caretaker Mike Hill, both 61, and principal Katherine Koonce, 60.
The attacker – who was shot dead by police – was named as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a white transgender woman.
She had been a student at Covenant School, a private Christian institution.
A police officer walks past the entrance of Covenant School after a shooting in Nashville
A terrified child presses his hand against the glass of a school bus window after being evacuated from Covenant School
“She was a student at this school once,” said Metropolitan Nashville Police Commissioner John Drake.
“But not sure what year… but that’s what I’ve been told so far.”
Drake confirmed that Hale is transgender.
He said she was identified from the car she parked at the school.
“There was a vehicle nearby that gave us clues as to who she was,” Drake said.
Hale had detailed, hand-drawn maps of the school and had been monitoring them, police said.
The small school is run by a church and does not employ a school resource officer.
Just before 10:13 a.m., Hale entered the school through a side door and opened fire on the second floor.
How she gained access to the building is unclear. According to the police, all the doors were locked.
The police arrived at the scene and heard the shots from the 2nd floor.
At 10:27 a.m. she had been shot.
She was armed with two assault rifles and a pistol.
Children hold hands as they exit Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday after a gunman opened fire, killing three children and three staff members
Children at Covenant School ran past an ambulance on Monday after a gunman opened fire, killing three staff and three students before they were shot dead by police
A father carries his son out of Nashville’s Covenant School after a gunman killed three students and two staff before he was shot dead
Terrified children peek out the windows of their school bus as they wait for a ride away from school after the shooting