3 Children Killed at Nashville Elementary School Were 9, Police Say

Chase Smith
By Chase Smith
March 27, 2023US News
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3 Children Killed at Nashville Elementary School Were 9, Police Say
An ambulance leaves of Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2023. (John Amis/AP Photo)

The three children killed at a Nashville Elementary School on Monday have been identified as being nine years old, Metro Nashville Police Department officials said in a third press conference regarding the incident Monday afternoon. The faculty members killed were between the ages of 60 and 61.

The three adults killed were the Director of School, Dr. Katherine Koonce, 60; Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher; and Mike Hill, 61, a custodian at the school. The nine-year-old children were identified by MNPD as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney. 

In the third press conference, Chief Drake said one of the students was eight years old and almost nine, but the MNPD Public Affairs Director said moments later all three were nine. Officials have not yet responded to a request to clarify the conflicting information. 

The Shooting

The shooter was identified Monday afternoon as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, who MNPD Chief John Drake said “identified as a transgender woman.”

MNPD said Hale also had plans to attack another school in the area, but it appeared that school had too much security. 

MNPD, Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco (ATF) agents, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were seen focused on a home in south Nashville, which Chief Drake confirmed was the home of the shooter.

“We’re also determined there were maps drawn of the school in detail of surveillance, entry-points, etc.,” Drake said. “We know and believe that entry was gained through shooting through one of the doors.”

He added Hale was a former student at the school but could not identify yet what grades the shooter attended.

Drake said the shooter was someone “that had multiple rounds of ammunition, prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement, and prepared to do more harm than was actually done.”

Police were working through a “manifesto” as well as a map drawn out with plans for the shooting. He added there is a theory to the shooting that may be released later alongside video.

From The Epoch Times

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