Bodycam footage shows police confronting, shooting Nashville school attacker

Washington, Mar 28 (EFE).- Police bodycam footage released Tuesday shows officers confronting and killing the assailant who shot dead six people – three children and three adults – at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

The six-minute compilation of footage shows the police response on Monday from the time the officers arrived at The Covenant School until they gunned down the attacker, a 28-year-old former student and resident of that southeastern US city identified as Audrey Hale.

Hale was armed with an “AR-style” rifle and pistol, as well as a handgun, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake told the media on Monday.

The footage shows officers Rex Engelbert, a four-year veteran of the MNPD, and Michael Collazo, a nine-year veteran of that force, going up the stairs to the second floor of the school and fatally shooting the heavily armed attacker.

The Nashville police force on Monday identified Hale as a transgender woman and have referred to the assailant as “she” and “her,” although in social media posts prior to the shooting that individual identified as a male, Efe confirmed.

The Covenant School is a private school attended by students ranging from pre-schoolers to sixth graders (age 11).

The three students killed were all nine years old, while the three adults who died – including the head of the school, Dr. Katherine Koonce – were aged 60-61.

Thus far this year, at least 30 incidents involving firearms have been reported at schools in the United States. Eight people died and 23 were wounded in those incidents, according to the Everytown for Gun Safety organization, a non-profit group that advocates for gun control. EFE

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