Three children and three adults were killed following a mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood on Monday morning, officials said.
The suspected shooter, who was fatally shot by police, was identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale from Nashville, authorities said. Officials said that she was armed with “at least” two assault rifles and a handgun.
Police said their preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect was at one time a student at the school, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. He did not know exactly when she may have attended.
Covenant, founded in 2001, is a private Christian school with 33 teachers and up to 210 students starting in preschool through 6th grade, according to the school website.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at a news conference that the shooting was a targeted attack. Drake said police discovered “a manifesto” as well as planning material.
“We’ve 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 by shooting through one of the doors, is how they actually got into the school.”
The police response
The shooter entered Covenant School through a side door and traversed the building, moving from the first floor to the second floor and “firing multiple shots,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said.
Responding officers saw the shooter firing on the second level, and at that point, they “engaged” her, Aaron said. The shooter was fatally shot by two of the five responding police officers at the scene, he said.
Female mass shooters are rare
While not much is known about the shooter, the fact that she was identified as a woman is rare. Since 1982, only three mass shootings in the United States have been carried out by women, according to data from the Statista Research Department. In that same time frame, men have been behind 135 mass shootings, Statista reported.
In 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opened fire on Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, killing two adults and wounding eight children. Spencer used a .22 caliber rifle her father had given her for Christmas, CBS8.com reported.
At the time the teen famously told a reporter that she carried out the shooting because “I don’t like Mondays,” CBS8.com reported.