- Six people, three of them children, have been killed in a primary school shooting in Nashville.
- The student victims have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all aged 8 or 9.
- The adult victims have been identified as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
- The shooter was identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who was killed by police, officers said.
- Police believe that Hale was a former student at the school.
- The Covenant School in Nashville is a private Christian school for students aged three to 11
- Since the shooting, President Joe Biden has renewed calls for Congress to take action on gun violence.
- Police have given an account of what happened, and when, during yesterday’s deadly shooting at the school in Nashville:
- Police said the suspect entered the school by shooting one of the school doors – which were all locked
- The shooter moved from the first floor to the second floor of the school, firing multiple shots
- Police got the initial call about the shooting at 10:13 local time (15:13 GMT) on Monday morning
- When police arrived on the scene, they began clearing people from the area
- After hearing gunshots come from the second floor, police went upstairs and saw the shooter firing
- Police “engaged” the suspect – who was fatally shot by two of the five officers who were at the scene
- The shooter was dead by 10:27.
Six people – three children and three staff – have been killed in a shooting by an ex-student at a school in the US city of Nashville, Tennessee.
Three of the victims were pupils aged nine or under at Covenant School. Police named them as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
The adult victims were named as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
The private Christian school has about 200 students.
It teaches pupils from three years old up to around 12.
Ms Peak was a substitute teacher working at the school that day. Mr Hill was a janitor and Ms Koonce was described as the Head of School on Covenant’s website.
Police said the suspect was 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who identified as transgender.
Hale was armed with three guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, and was shot dead by police.
Police received the first call about the incident at 10:13 local time (15:13 GMT) on Monday.
The suspect drove to the school in a Honda Fit and got in by firing through one of the school doors, which were all locked.
Video later released by Nashville police show Hale using a gun to gain entry by shattering glass panes on the front doors, then wandering the school’s deserted corridors – at one point walking past a room labelled “Children’s Ministry”.
In the CCTV footage, Hale is wearing what looks to be a protective vest and carrying an assault-style rifle in one hand, with a second, similar weapon also visible hanging from the left hip.
