- Police have labelled the incident as targeted attack.
- Shooter Audrey Hale, an ex-graduate, was equipped with three guns.
- Nashville school shooter had maps drawn of the school in detail
At least six people including three children have been killed in a Nashville school shooting by its former graduate student Audrey hale.
It is “heartbreaking and family’s worst nightmare”, said US president Joe Biden on shooting — the incident of gun violence deadliest in nearly a year.
Police have regarded this attack as targeted and said that a 28-year-old former student had been also gunned down.
Audrey Hale was equipped with three guns by shooting through a side door, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at a news conference, adding that the shooter had “maps drawn of the school in detail, surveillance, entry points.”
Police also noted that the whole of the incident took 14 minutes from the start till the killing of the suspect. According to the spokesperson Don Aaron, Nashville school was church-owned, and no guard was deployed for security.
The spokesperson also noted that, as the police heard the shots, they fatally shot down the Nashville school shooter.
Drake also told the news conference that investigators suggest that the shooter may have intended to target another location also in Nashville but refrained after the threat assessment due to security.
Hale was transgender and was a female shooter because he used male pronouns on social media, Police told CNN.
Hale had two legally owned weapons, Drake said. Police believe Hale obtained at least two of the weapons legally, Drake said. An AR-style rifle, AR-style pistol and a handgun were recovered from him.
Nashville Police chief added: “Police are investigating the motivation behind the attack taking into account the suspect’s father in the probe.”
The shooter was a graduate of Nossi College of Art and Design Nashville last year, the school president confirmed.
Joe Biden on shooting
US President Joe Biden while speaking in a press conference regarded the shooting “sick” and “heartbreaking”, urging Congress to act in a manner to tighten the gun safety laws.
He said: “We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation, ripping at the very soul of the nation”.
Joe Biden also added: “And we have to do more to protect our schools, so they aren’t turned into prisons.”
I call on congress again to pass my assault weapons ban. It’s about time we began to make some more progress, he added.
