WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Body Cam Footage Captures The Moment Police Killed The Nashville Grade School Shooting Suspect
*Photos and videos provided by Metro Nashville PD
Body Cam Footage:
WARNING: Graphic content – viewer discretion is advised. This video contains body cam footage from Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo. Both are being hailed as heroes for entering the building with a team of first responders and killing the suspect in a lobby on the second floor of the school.
The Officers Who Killed The Suspect:
MNPD Officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to the Covenant campus Mon morning. They fired on the active shooter, who was killed. Their body cam footage is in this article.
MNPD Officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to the Covenant campus Mon morning. They fired on the active shooter, who was killed. Their body cam footage is in this article.
Security Cam Footage:
WARNING: Graphic content – viewer discretion is advised. This video shows the suspect driving on the campus of The Covenant School and shooting through the door to gain access to the building.
The Victims:
The victims were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 8 or 9 years old, and adults Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.
Original Story:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at a private Christian grade school in Nashville on Monday, and the female shooter also died after being shot by police, authorities said.
The violence occurred at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school for about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade.
Police say the shooter was a 28-year-old woman. Initially, police identified her as a teenager. She was armed with two assault-type rifles and a pistol.
The killings come as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.
The Nashville victims were pronounced dead upon arrival at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, according to Craig Boerner, a spokesperson for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which is affiliated with the children’s hospital.
Other students walked to safety Monday, holding hands as they left their school surrounded by police cars, to a nearby church to be reunited with their parents.
Police officers with rifles, heavy vests and helmets could be seen walking through the school parking lot and around the grassy perimeter of the building Monday morning. Helicopter footage from WTVF also showed the officers looking around a wooded area between the campus and a nearby road.
Jozen Reodica heard the police sirens and fire trucks blaring from outside her office building nearby. As her building was placed under lockdown, she took out her phone and recorded the chaos.
“I thought I would just see this on TV,” she said. “And right now, it’s real.”
On WTVF TV, reporter Hannah McDonald said that her mother-in-law works at the front desk at The Covenant School. The woman had stepped outside for a break Monday morning and was coming back when she heard gunshots, McDonald said during a live broadcast. The reporter said she has not been able to speak with her mother-in-law but said her husband had.
The Covenant School was founded as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in 2001, according to the school’s website. The school is located in the affluent Green Hill neighborhood just south of downtown Nashville, situated close to the cities top universities and home to the famed Bluebird Café – a beloved spot for musicians and song writers.
The grade school has 33 teachers, the website said. The school’s website features the motto “Shepherding Hearts, Empowering Minds, Celebrating Childhood.”
Democratic state Rep. Bob Freeman, whose district includes The Covenant School, called Monday’s shooting an “unimaginable tragedy.”
“I live around the corner from Covenant and pass by it often. I have friends who attend both church and school there,” Freeman said in a statement. “I have also visited the church in the past. It tears my heart apart to see this.”
