The Nashville Metropolitan Police Department has made public the graphic bodycam footage of the moment when two officers shot and killed a transgender shooter who murdered three students and three adults at The Covenant School, a private Christian grade school in Tennessee.
At a news conference on Monday, Metro Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron reported that responding officers promptly confronted the shooter on the building’s second floor. “The police department response was swift,” Aaron explained. “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.”
Police promptly arrived on the scene after being called regarding gunshots fired at the school. Upon arrival, the suspect, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a biological female who identifies as a transgender male, shot at the police from a window on the second floor. Subsequently, a group of five officers entered the school and encountered Hale on the second floor, where they shot and killed her.
Officer Rex Engelbert’s body camera footage captures the intense moments. Just before entering the school, a woman working at the school informed Englebert, “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids; we don’t know where they are.” Engelbert and the rest of his team promptly entered the building.
After clearing some of the first floor, Englebert informed his colleagues that “it sounds like [the shooter] is upstairs.” The officers quickly made their way to the second floor and ran down the hallway while gunshots rang in the background. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Englebert cautiously peered around the corner where Hale was located and fired several rounds, causing her to fall to the ground.
“Stop moving! Stop moving!” one officer was heard shouting at Hale.
Police reached and killed Hale within three minutes of arriving at the school. Below is the bodycam footage released by the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department.
Warning: Graphic content
JUST IN – Police release body cam footage from the two heroic officers who took out the transgender shooter who targeted a Nashville Christian school. pic.twitter.com/QjkuHl2ZlR
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 28, 2023
“MNPD Officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of officers who responded to the Covenant Church/School campus Monday morning and immediately entered the building. Both of those officers fired on the shooter, who was killed,” reads the department’s description of the footage on Twitter. “This is their body camera footage.”
The victims have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old; Cynthia Peak, age 61; Katherine Koonce, age 60; and; Mike Hill, age 61. Katherine Koonce was the head of The Covenant School.
No motive for the attack has been released yet, though, on Monday, Nashville Chief of Police John Drake was asked whether Hale identifying as transgender played a role in her targeting the school. He would not confirm this but indicated that the department has a working theory and said it would be discussed at a later date. Hale did have a manifesto that has not been released.
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