Police in Tennessee have released surveillance video taken at the school where a deadly shooting took place on March 27. Six victims died in the shooting, including three students and three adults.
The suspect, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was shot and killed by police. Officials say Hale was a former student at the school.
Suspect shot way into school
The surveillance video released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) shows the suspect driving onto campus, then shooting her way into the building through double glass doors.
Alarms can be seen flashing inside the building as the suspect, dressed in camouflage pants and wearing a red cap, makes her way down the hall into the church office. After 14 seconds, the shooter emerges from the office and continues walking through the school hallways.
The video does not show anyone being shot, but it does give a frightening view of the moments leading up to the school’s terror.
Hale was armed with two “assault-style” weapons as well as a handgun, authorities said. At least two of them were believed to have been obtained legally in the Nashville area, according to MNPD Police Chief John Drake.
The initial 911 call about the shooting went out at 10:13 a.m. Monday. Authorities say Hale was firing through a second-floor window as police cars arrived.
“It was on the second floor, in a common area, that a team of officers encountered Hale shooting. Two members of an officer team fired on Hale and fatally wounded her,” states a police department press release.
Those two officers have been identified as Officer Rex Englebert, a four-year MNPD veteran, and Officer Michael Collazo, a nine-year MNPD veteran.
According to the timeline laid out by police, 14 minutes passed from the time the initial 911 call went out and the time Hale was shot dead.
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Shooter was ‘prepared for confrontation’
Police say writings recovered from Hale revealed that her attack was “calculated and planned.” Hale had multiple rounds of ammunition and was “prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement,” Chief Drake said. He said the shooter had maps drawn of the school and its entry points.
Investigators executed a search warrant at Hale’s home and say they seized a sawed-off shotgun, a second shotgun, and other evidence.
Mayor John Cooper said Nashville was joining the “dreaded, long list” of cities and towns that have suffered school shootings.
“My heart goes out to the families of the victims,” Cooper said. “Our entire city stands with you.”
Tennessee state Rep. Bob Freeman, whose district includes the school, said it was “an unimaginable tragedy for the victims, all the children, families, teachers, staff and my entire community,” NPR reports.
State Sen. Jeff Yarbro, who represents Nashville, said on Twitter: “My heart breaks for the families at Covenant. As a parent, I both ache for them and rage with them that fear of this kind of tragedy is just accepted as just part of what it means to raise kids these days.”
A tragic day here in Nashville. My heart breaks for the families at Covenant. As a parent, I both ache for them and rage with them that fear of this kind of tragedy is just accepted as just part of what it means to raise kids these days. https://t.co/X0H1pUWzDf
— Jeff Yarbro (@yarbro) March 27, 2023
President Biden called the Nashville shooting “sick” and “heartbreaking,” saying it was “a family’s worst nightmare.”
“We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping at the very soul of our nation,” he said at the White House.
The President ordered flags at the White House and all federal buildings be flown at half-staff through March 31 to honor the victims of the school shooting.
According to the national Gun Violence Archive website, there have been 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year.
