Monday’s mass shooting of three elementary school students and three faculty members in Tennessee was the 90th school shooting in the U.S. this year, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
The attacker, Audrey Hale, 28, who went by the name Aiden, was killed on the scene by police.
Hale was a former student of the Covenant school and was under a doctor’s care for an “emotional disorder”, Nashville’s police chief said Tuesday, without elaborating.Hale shot and killed Covenant Presbyterian Church School students Evelyn Dieckhaus,9, Hallie Scruggs, 9 and William Kinney, 9 along with Katherine Koonce, 60, head of the school; Mike Hill, 61, custodian; and Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher.
Police found an arsenal of legally-purchased assault rifles and guns at Hale’s parent’s home, who said they were unaware their adult child had amassed so many weapons.Under Tennessee law, mental illness does not disqualify a person from obtaining or possessing guns.
A person can only be barred from purchasing guns in the state if a court deems that person mentally incompetent, commits them to a psychiatric facility or places them under legal conservatorship.
Investigators “don’t have a motive at this time,” and will talk about theories about what could have driven the shooter at a later date, the Nashville police chief said Tuesday.‘Hale used two assault rifles and a handgun in the attack and left behind what authorities are calling a ‘manifesto,’ that may provide more motive.
Hale reportedly identified as transgender, and used male pronouns, according to people familiar with the matter and the shooter’s now defunct social media profiles.“I understand there is pain. I understand the desperation to have answers, to place blame, to argue about a solution that could prevent this horrible tragedy,” said Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. “This is not a time for hate or rage.”
Community members surrounded the entrance to the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday to pay their respects to the three children and three adults shot and killed by a former student on campus on Monday.
The makeshift memorial was overflowing with stuffed animals and handwritten messages, with one handmade card expressing the sentiments shared with many angry and grieving Americans on Wednesday: “WHY?”
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