Six killed, including three children, in Tennessee school shooting

Several vigils took place across Nashville on Monday night, with community members coming together to grieve after the deadly shooting at The Covenant School.

The Belonging Co Church held a public prayer for its community, with Lead Pastor Henry Seeley saying some of the families who attend the church also send their children to the school, NBC affiliate WSMV, which is based in Nashville, reported.

“It’s challenging honestly. There’s been a lot of tears today,” Seeley said, according to the outlet. “The Bible says to mourn with those who mourn and to weep with those who weep and that is why we wanted to come together tonight.”

Community members also gathered at the Cathedral of the Incarnation Monday night.

“People came to mass today full of heart and pain and grief and all throughout mass I saw tears of various parishioners who gathered. And they just need to come together and be with another, " Bishop J. Mark Spalding said, according to WSMV.

The Nossi College of Art & Design has said the shooter was a 2022 graduate of the school, which is based in Nashville.

Audrey Hale "was a talented artist and a good student" while at the college, the school said in a statement.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, to the victims and their families and to our city," it said.

The school added that due to federal guidelines followed by the institution, it could not disclose further personal information.

A search of the Nashville school shooting suspect's residence Monday turned up more firepower, police said in an evening statement.

Officers armed with a search warrant scoured the residence on Brightwood Avenue in Belmont-Hillsboro, a neighborhood of seven-figure, early 20th-century homes, blocking off residential streets and using explosive devices to gain entry.

Nashville police said investigators found two more firearms, described as shotguns, at the residence. At least one of those was described by police as a "sawed-off shotgun," some of which can be illegal, depending on the exact measurements and whether the owner has filed federal paperwork.

Other unspecified evidence was seized, police said in the statement. "Writings recovered from Hale revealed that [the] attack was calculated and planned," the department said.

Earlier, police said the suspect, Audrey Hale, 28, had a map of The Covenant School, where the former student allegedly killed six, including three 9-year-old students, while walking through the building and opening fire with at least one of three guns.

The map, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said, appeared to include information on entry and exit points.

Two responding officers found the suspect on the school's second floor, shooting at other law enforcement personnel arriving to the scene, police said. The two officers opened fire, killing the alleged attacker, police said.

Police tweeted a photo of the weapons the suspect allegedly had during the attack, including two semiautomatic black rifles and a 9 mm handgun.

Video released Monday by Nashville police appears to show the shooter enter and walk through the hallways of The Covenant School with a raised rifle.

In edited security video captured inside and outside the school, the suspect, identified by police as Audrey Hale, 28, can be seen driving a Honda Fit through the campus’ parking lot shortly before 10 a.m., the Nashville police said in a statement accompanying the video’s release.

At 10:10 a.m., a set of doors is seen shattering, and Hale climbs through broken glass. Hale is wearing a vest, camouflage pants and red a baseball cap turned backwards. A rifle is slung over one shoulder. Hale enters different rooms and walks past a children’s ministry door with a second rifle raised.

The video is a little over 2 minutes and has no audio. Police Chief John Drake said the department will also release body camera video from officers who encountered Hale.

The Covenant School, the private Christian institution where a shooter killed three children and three adults Monday morning, said it was in shock.

In a statement Monday night to NBC affiliate WSMV of Nashville, the school said:

"Our community is heartbroken. We are grieving tremendous loss and are in shock coming out of the terror that shattered our school and church. We are focused on loving our students, our families, our faculty and staff and beginning the process of healing.

"Law enforcement is conducting its investigation, and while we understand there is a lot of interest and there will be a lot of discussion about and speculation surrounding what happened, we will continue to prioritize the well-being of our community.

"We appreciate the outpouring of support we have received, and we are tremendously grateful to the first responders who acted quickly to protect our students, faculty and staff.

"We ask for privacy as our community grapples with this terrible tragedy — for our students, parents, faculty and staff."

Nashville Mayor John Cooper said video from officers' body cameras, as well as from The Covenant School's security cameras, could be released to the public as soon as Monday night.

"I suspect either tonight or tomorrow they’ll be releasing bodycam footage and maybe some footage from the school as they’re trying to establish the timeline," Cooper said on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

He called Monday the city's "worst day."

"We’re a resilient city, but it's a shock to have to add our name to places where there have been mass killings of children," Cooper said.

The person suspected of killing three students and three staff members at a Tennessee Christian school Monday opened fire on police when they arrived at the building.

Pictures posted by Nashville police showed what appeared to be a police cruiser with a windshield that had been shattered by a bullet.

The suspect, Audrey Hale, 28, fired at authorities from a second-story window at The Covenant School, the police department said.

A team of five officers entered campus at 10:13 a.m. and cleared the area, police officials said earlier Monday. By 10:27 a.m. the team had taken “the threat down,” Police Chief John Drake said.

President Joe Biden tonight spoke by phone with Nashville Mayor John Cooper, a source familiar with the call said.

Biden also ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff at the White House, public buildings, military posts and naval stations, as well as at a variety of U.S. facilities abroad, until sunset Friday.

In the proclamation, Biden said it was "a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence" in Nashville.

The White House later said that Biden also spoke with Gov. Bill Lee about the shooting.

As details about the suspect in Monday’s school shooting emerged, there was conflicting information about the assailant’s gender identity.

Nashville police said the accused Covenant School shooter was a transgender person.

Chief John Drake said officials “feel that she identifies as trans, but we’re still in the initial investigation into all of that and if it actually played a role into this incident.” 

Audrey Hale’s LinkedIn page, which indicates activity roughly a month ago and includes a job history updated 10 months ago, uses “he/him” pronouns.

Bill Campbell, a headmaster of The Covenant School from 2004 to 2008, said he remembers Hale as third-grader at the school in 2005 and a fourth-grader in 2006.

“I’ve looked back in my annuals, and I do remember her as a former student,” Campbell said. “She was just one of our young ladies.”

Hale is not included in Campbell’s yearbooks after that, Campbell said, and he believes the student may have transferred to another institution.