What happened in Nashville?

Authorities say a lone shooter opened fire Monday morning at the Covenant School, which is an academy within a Presbyterian church. The school typically averages about 200 students each year. Six people were killed: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all age 9; and Katherine Koonce, 60; Cynthia Peak, 61; and Mike Hill, 61. The children were students at the school, while the adults were staff members. Police responded to the scene, and two officers fatally shot the attacker.

What do we know about the Nashville shooter?

Police have identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Hale , who they said was a former student at the school. A day after the attack, John Drake, the Nashville police chief, said investigators had spoken to Hale’s parents. The parents reported that their child was receiving treatment “for an emotional disorder,” Drake said. He did not elaborate on the disorder or the type of treatment. Drake also said the parents believed Hale should not own weapons and incorrectly thought Hale had owned only one gun and sold it. The shooter, the police chief said, had legally purchased seven guns at five local gun stores.

What guns did the Nashville shooter use?

According to Nashville police, the shooter stormed the school armed with three guns. Video footage released by police showed the attacker shooting through glass doors to get inside the school. Police said in a statement that the shooter was “heavily armed with three guns, two of them assault-type weapons.” Don Aaron, a police spokesman, wrote in an email that the recovered guns “were a 5.56 AR rifle, a Keltec 9 mm, and a 9 mm handgun.” Investigators later searched the shooter’s home and found two additional guns, both shotguns. All of the weapons were purchased legally, according to police.

What have police said about Hale’s motives?

Authorities have said that they were still trying to determine what motivated the shooting but that it appeared the shooter planned carefully and targeted the school rather than any specific victims. Aaron said at a news briefing Tuesday that there is “no evidence that individuals were specifically targeted.” He added, “This school, this church building, was a target of the shooter.” Drake has told reporters that the shooter left behind a “manifesto” with writings about the school and “other locations.” The writings included “a map of the school,” documenting how the attacker would enter. In a television interview Tuesday morning, Drake also suggested other potential targets had included “family members, and one of the malls here in Nashville.”

Did Hale warn anyone before the shooting?

At 9:57 a.m. Monday, less than 20 minutes before the attack began, Averianna Patton, a former basketball teammate of the shooter, received disturbing messages from Hale over Instagram. “I’m planning to die today,” Hale wrote. “You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die. This is my last goodbye. I love you.” “My family doesn’t know what I’m about to do… One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind. But something bad is going to happen. Forgive me.” Patton called a suicide prevention hotline, the county sheriff’s office and the non-emergency line for the Nashville police seeking help for a friend who she feared was going to take their own life. By then, the shooting had begun.

What have people who knew Hale said?

Patton recalled Hale as timid and shy. They had attended the same high school — a public arts school in Nashville, which the shooter graduated from in 2014 — and sometimes interacted on social media but were not close. As adults, they were connected on social media, but Patton didn’t have Hale’s phone number or address. Last month, when Patton, a radio personality, was taping a live show, Hale showed up. A few weeks ago, they saw each other at a gathering to commemorate a former basketball teammate who died last year, Patton said. Hale graduated from Nossi College of Art in 2022, Cyrus Vatandoost, the school’s president and chief executive, said in an email Tuesday. “While at our school,” Vatandoost wrote, Hale “was a talented artist and a good student.” Maria Colomy, 47, a former teacher at Nossi, said Hale’s artwork stood out from the crowd. Colomy described it as whimsical and innocent, so much so that she thought Hale might end up illustrating children’s books.

What do we know about Hale’s gender identity?

Police identified Hale as transgender, citing a social media profile in which Hale used masculine pronouns. The department has not elaborated beyond this explanation. The Post has not confirmed how Hale identified. Attempts to reach Hale’s family have been unsuccessful.

The Nashville police released body-camera footage from the two officers they say fatally shot the attacker. In the footage, both officers, Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, are seen rushing through the school with other officers, hurrying down the hallways as they check classrooms and bathrooms. When the officers confront the shooter, they fire several shots, and the attacker can be seen crumpling to the ground. At one point, the footage labeled as coming from Collazo’s camera captures him approaching the shooter, who is on the ground, partially blurred out. “Suspect down, suspect down!” the officer shouts. Hale, lying amid broken glass, appears to be still clutching a weapon, which the officer pulls free.

What we know about the Nashville shooter, the guns used and the warnings

By Joanna Slater

and

Mark Berman

March 30, 2023 at 6:15 p.m. EDT

A mourner prays at the makeshift memorial at Nashville's Covenant School on Monday, a day after the shooting there. (Johnnie Izquierdo/for The Washington Post)

5 min

On Monday, a shooter carrying multiple weapons killed six people — three of them young children — at a private Christian grade school in Nashville.

Here’s a guide to what is known so far.

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The Nashville school shooting

What we know: The Nashville shooter fired 152 rounds into the private Covenant School during a rampage that killed six people, which has unleashed a new wave of anti-trans rhetoric. Released Nashville police bodycam footage shows officers confronting the shooter, and 911 calls capture the horror of the shooting. Experts say the police response in the Nashville school shooting was the “exact opposite” of the the Uvalde massacre response.

The victims: Three 9-year-old children, who were students at the school, and three adult staff members — the head of the school, a substitute teacher and a custodian — were killed. Here’s everything we know about the victims.

Who is the Nashville shooter? Police identified the shooter as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, of Nashville. Hale was transgender, according to the police chief. Before the shooting, Hale warned a friend of “something bad” in Instagram messages. A motive is currently unknown.