Three children and three adults were shot down at a private Christian school in Tennessee on Monday before the shooter was killed by police, authorities said.
The shooting occurred at The Covenant School on Burton Hills Boulevard in Nashville where police officers “engaged” the shooter, who was described by police during an afternoon press conference as a female.
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The attacker was gunned down on the school’s second floor, a spokesperson said. She had two “assault-type rifles and a handgun,” according to the authorities.
Students of the school were being used to Woodmont Baptist Church, two miles away, to be reunited with their families.
Lines on police cruisers sit near the scene of the active shooter situation at the Covenant school at the Covenant Presbyterian Church here in Nashville. Students are being bused to their parents. pic.twitter.com/r9vLzUjFQR
— Kelsey Gibbs (@kelseymgibbs) March 27, 2023
The names and ages of the victims and the gunman have not been released. Police described the victims as students and staff members of the school.
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Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the city has “joined the dreaded, long list of communities to experience a school shooting.”
“My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you,” he added.
Police officials said they first got calls about the shooter at 10:13 AM CT and Nashville firefighters first reported their personnel were responding to an “active aggressor” at 10:39 AM CT.
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“The police department response was swift,” police spokesperson Don Aaron said.
“They heard shots coming from the second level. They immediately went to the gunfire. When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her. She was fatally shot by responding police officers,” he said.
Five officers came upon the attacker and two opened fire on her, Aaron said. The shooter had entered the school through a “side entrance” on the first floor.
According to data collected by Education, there were 12 school shootings in 2023 through March 23 that have resulted in deaths or injuries in the United States.
As per FBI data that of 61 mass shootings that took place in 2021, the last year of which data is available, only one involved a female suspect.
