Update: The shooter has been identified as Audrey Hale, according to Metropolitan Nashville Police Department chief John Drake, who added that she identified as transgender. NBC News spoke to a neighbor who said “This is a great family and it’s a tragedy.”
Police used a grenade-like device to enter Hale’s residence, per NBC News, and they’re still trying to figure out exactly how Hale got into the school when the doors were supposed to be locked.
Original Story: Three children and three adults are dead after a school shooting in Nashville on Monday, and police say an unidentified female killed by police is responsible for the shooting. Here’s what we know about the shooter so far.
To recap: a well-armed woman entered the school in the morning and fatally shot three staff members and three children before officers from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department shot and killed her. She was a 28-year-old woman and carried two assault rifles and a handgun, per the New York Times.
In a press conference on the scene after the shooting, per CNN, Police Chief John Drake believes the woman was once a student at the school.
“From my initial findings, at one point, she was a student at that school,” he said. He was not sure which years she attended, however. The woman’s name is known to police, but as of this writing hasn’t been released just yet, and Drake said the investigation is ongoing.
Police found out information about the woman because of a “car nearby that gave us clues,” Drake said. Police were called at 10:13 am CST, and heard shots on the second floor when they got there. A five member team closed in on the shooter, and two of them opened fire on the unidentified woman.
The woman entered the school through a side door, and opened fire as she made her way up to the second floor, according to local reports. She was deceased by 10:27 am. Because it is a private school run by a church, there were no school safety police officers on campus.
The investigation is in its early stages, and the woman’s name and information will no doubt be released in the near future.
