Investigations

'Call it Fate': Watch Nashville Police at School Shooting Talk for 1st Time

April 5, 2023

Nashville police officers who responded to a mass shooting at Covenant School spoke publicly for the first time about stopping the shooter's rampage that claimed the lives of six people.

The Nashville police officers who responded to a school shooter's rampage last month spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday, with one officer saying that "the smell of gunpowder was in the air" when they reached the scene.

Nashville Police Officer Rex Engelbert, Det. Michael Collazo and Det. Sgt. Jeff Mathes talked at a press conference about their experiences stopping Audrey Hale's March 27 shooting spree within Covenant School, WBIR-TV reports. Before Hale was fatally shot by police, the shooter had killed three children and three adults.

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"I really had no business being where I was," said Engelbert, who is normally assigned to a different area but was doing administrative work at headquarters. "I think you can call it fate or God or whatever you want, but I can't count on both my hands the irregularities that put me in that position."

Englebert had never worked with the other officers before the day of the shooting. But he credited their training for allowing them to confront and stop Hale before more were killed or wounded.

“Once we got near the shooter, the shooter was neutralized,” said Mathes.

Engelbert said he never worked with the officers he went into the school with but knew through all their training what needed to be done.

"Their efforts also saved lives," said Police Chief John Drake. "They knew how to have the kids on the wall, away from the windows, out of the hallways. Where we could have had a lot more casualties, they were able to protect these kids as well."