Nashville School Shooting: Bodycams Capture Police Response
As police continued to investigate a shooting that left six dead at a Nashville school Monday, authorities released security video footage that shows the shooter entering the school moments before the rampage erupted.
In the video, Audrey Hale, 28, drives up to Covenant School as students are on the playground, WKRN-TV reports. Hale is then seen shooting open a side entrance of the school with an assault rifle before entering the building and searching the halls.
Hale, a former student at the school who was armed with two assault rifles and a handgun, is accused of fatally shooting three children and three adults during her rampage. Police responded to reports of shots fired at the school shortly before 10:15 a.m., and Hale began firing from a second-floor window as cruisers began reaching the scene, according to the police department.
A five-member police unit entered the school and began clearing the building, heading to the second floor where they heard gunfire. Hale was finally shot and killed by two officers in a five-member Nashville police unit that responded to the incident.
Body camera footage released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department on Tuesday captured the confrontation between Hale and officers leading up to the shooting.
The officers were identified as Rex Englebert and Michael Collazo, according to the police department. Englebert is a four-year veteran of the Nashville police force, and Collazo has been with the department for nine years.
The victims in the shooting were identified as:
- Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9
- William Kinney, 9
- Hallie Scruggs, 9
- Mike Hill, 61
- Cynthia Peak, 61
- Katherine Koonce, 60
Police continue to investigate the shooting, and a search warrant executed at Hale's Nashville home discovered two shotguns and other evidence. Writings described as a manifesto also were found, and writings revealed that Hale had planned the calculated shooting. The writings also revealed that another Nashville location had been scouted for a possible second attack.
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Hale worked as a freelance graphic designer and a part-time grocery shopper, CNN reports. Police identified Hale as transgender, adding that the shooter used male pronouns on social media.
Along with police, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and ATF's Nashville office are all helping with the investigation.
