Cops Release Shocking CCTV of Nashville School Massacre

Police have released security camera footage showing the moments leading up to and during a horrific mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville Monday morning.

Three children and three adults were killed during the bloody incident by a 28-year-old shooter who had detailed maps drawn up of the school and a “manifesto,” authorities said.

The suspect, who was killed by two officers on the second floor of the Covenant School, was identified by the Metro Nashville Police Department as Nashville resident Audrey Hale. (Police initially described the suspect as a teen, and then a 28-year-old woman, and later said Hale was transgender.)

Hale was a student “at one point” at Covenant, a church-based school of about 200 students from pre-school through sixth grade, according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake. A search of Hale’s home turned up “maps drawn of the school, in detail, so, surveillance, entry points, et cetera,” he said. Drake said cops also found a manifesto and “some writings that pertain to this date, the actual incident... of how this was all going to take place.”

The victims were identified by authorities as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney—all 9 years old—and Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. Koonce is the head of the school, according to its website.

Hale was armed with an AR-style rifle, and AR-style pistol, and a handgun—and used the guns to shoot through a locked side entrance to the school, Drake said. Two of the guns were “obtained legally, locally here,” he said.

Metro Nashville police released footage of the incident Monday night, showing Hale driving up towards the school in a Honda Fit, into the parking lot, and subsequently shooting and kicking her way through the school doors.

The suspect is seen clearly armed, holding a rifle, and wearing a red baseball style cap and camouflage pants.

She is seen roaming the area, checking doors and rooms and holding her gun at the ready.

The suspect fired “multiple shots” while making her way from the first floor to the second, police spokesman Don Aaron said. When cops arrived, they ran towards the sound of shots coming from the second floor and encountered Hale, who they fatally shot moments later.

Police also shared images of a second-floor window which Hale shot at officers from upon their arrival. They also shared images of the firearms recovered from the scene; 2 assault-type guns and a 9 millimeter pistol.

One of the guns can be seen with the name Aiden on it, which was a name Hale used on some social media profiles seen by The Daily Beast.

Investigators were able to ID Hale based on “a vehicle that was nearby that gave us clues into who she was,” Drake said.

The entire incident was over by 10:27 a.m., some 14 minutes after the first call to cops about an active shooter, police said.

Drake said investigators have a working theory on a possible motive, but that it is not confirmed. Covenant was “the only school that was targeted,” Drake said, although “[t]here was another location that was mentioned.”

“But because of a threat assessment by the suspect, too much security, they decided not to,” Drake said.

Later Monday afternoon, police were seen searching Hale’s home, about three miles away from the school.

“My son and I were having lunch around 1 o’clock, and we heard a huge boom that shook our house, and had no idea what it was,” Abigail Ashford-Grooms, who said she lives several homes away from the one that law enforcement searched, told The Daily Beast.

“And when we peeked out the door, there were undercover police cars and ambulances and fire trucks blocking the street. And then we noticed all of our neighbors start to creep out at the same time.”

Another neighbor, 77-year-old Sandy Durham, said she never would have expected something like this from Hale, who said she had known her since she was a baby.

“She was very sweet,” Durham told The Daily Beast. “I don’t know what happened. It’s very scary.”

Worried parents descended upon the school as news of the shooting filtered out, but yellow school buses were there to take students to a nearby reunification center. An anchor on WSMV, Nashville’s local NBC affiliate, fought back tears as she announced her own children’s schools had gone into lockdown as a precaution.

Drake said he “was moved to tears as the kids were being ushered out of the building.”

One anxious mom spoke to The Daily Beast as she awaited instructions on how to reunite with her children, who both survived the shooting. Her family monitored the situation on social media, assuring worried friends and relatives that their loved ones were OK but encouraging others to “join us in praying for all involved.”

John Wilkinson, a construction company owner who was in the area on Monday for a chiropractor appointment, told The Daily Beast he saw a massive law enforcement response with what he estimated to be some 50 police vehicles arrive on the scene, followed immediately by ambulances and fire trucks.

A few minutes later, the ambulances, escorted by police motorcycles and squad cars, departed for the hospital, according to Wilkinson.

“When I left, parents were massing in the parking lot of adjoining commercial buildings,” Wilkinson said. “There was a lot of hugging, there was crying, there were parents distraught.”

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Nashville field office were also on the scene, the agency said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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