The Nashville school shooter had created maps and conducted surveillance

Tennessee: NASHVILLE According to police, a former student planned the massacre in great detail by drawing out a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building, which led to the murders of three adults and three children at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday. He was armed with two "assault-style" weapons and a handgun.

In a nation that has become increasingly alarmed by school shootings, the Nashville massacre was the latest in a string of mass shootings.

Three 9-year-old children, the school's top administrator, a substitute teacher, and a custodian were among the victims. In the midst of the chaos, a routine took place: A shocked community planned vigils for the victims, and panicked parents rushed to the school to see if their children were safe. They gave their children tearful hugs.

During one of a number of news conferences held on Monday, Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake stated, "I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building."

The gender of the shooter was not specified by the police. The shooter was eventually identified as Audrey Hale after police spent hours identifying her as a 28-year-old woman. Then at a late evening public interview, the police boss said that Robust was transsexual. Don Aaron, a spokesperson for the police, declined to elaborate on Hale's current identification after the news conference.

Drake didn't give a particular intention when asked by journalists however gave chilling instances of the shooter's earlier making arrangements for the designated assault.

He stated, "We have a manifesto, and we are going over some writings that pertain to this date, the actual incident." We have drawn a map of how everything was going to happen.

Authorities claimed that the shooter was armed with a handgun and two "assault-style" weapons. According to the chief, it was believed that at least two of them had been obtained legally in the Nashville region.

Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9, and Cynthia Peak, 61, were identified as the victims. 60-year-old Katherine Koonce Mike Hill, 61, and Katherine Koonce is listed as the school's head on The Covenant School's website, which was established in 2001 and is a Presbyterian institution. According to her LinkedIn profile, she is the school's principal since July 2016. Investigators say that Peak was a substitute teacher and Hill was a custodian.

Students walked hand-in-hand to school buses, which took them to a nearby church where they could see their parents again.

Rachel Drill, who was at the congregation as families found their youngsters, depicted the scene as everybody being in "finished shock."

Dibble, whose children attend a different Nashville private school, stated, "People were involuntarily trembling." The kids got up in their adorable uniforms, probably munched on some Froot Loops, and their entire lives changed today.

In recent years, communities across the United States have endured one mass killing after another, with school shootings taking an especially devastating toll.

The massacre that occurred at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year, is one of the most recent national tragedies; a first-grader in Virginia who shot and killed his teacher; what's more, a shooting last week in Denver that injured two directors.

On Monday, while giving a speech at a White House event that had nothing to do with the shooting, President Joe Biden referred to the incident as a "family's worst nightmare" and urged Congress once more to enact a ban on certain semi-automatic weapons.

Biden stated, "It's ripping at the soul of this nation, the very soul of this nation."

The Covenant School was established as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church. It is situated in the affluent Green Hills neighborhood, which is just south of downtown Nashville and is home to the renowned Bluebird Café, a spot that is frequently favored by songwriters and musicians.

The school has approximately 200 preschool through sixth grade students and approximately 50 staff members.

According to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, there had been seven mass killings at K-12 schools since 2006 in which four or more people were killed within a 24-hour period prior to the violence in Nashville on Monday. Males were the shooters in all of them.

Since they have become much more common in recent years, school shootings involving fewer than four victims are not included in the database. For instance, two days apart last week, school shootings occurred in the Dallas-area and Denver, respectively.

The tragedy on Monday lasted about 14 minutes. Aaron stated during a news briefing that officers began clearing the first story of the school when they heard gunshots coming from the second level. At 10:13 a.m., police received the initial call about an active shooter.

Aaron stated that in response, two officers from a team of five opened fire, killing the suspect at 10:27 a.m. One official had a hand twisted from cut glass.

Because the school is run by a church, according to Aaron, no police were on the scene or assigned to it at the time of the shooting.

Jozen Reodica could hear the nearby fire trucks and police sirens from outside her office building. She took out her phone and recorded the chaos as her building was put under lockdown.

She stated, "I thought I would just see this on TV." And it is real right now."

In recent years, Nashville has experienced a fair amount of mass violence. One such incident occurred on Christmas Day 2020, when a recreational vehicle was purposefully detonated in the heart of Music City's historic downtown. The bomber was killed, three others were injured, and more than 60 businesses were forced to close.

After agreeing to defer consideration of any bills in light of the shooting, Tennessee state senators met for approximately 12 minutes on Monday. The guest pastor began the session with an emotional prayer.

Pastor Russell Hall said in a trembling voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, I wrote down a prayer today and I quickly realized that I cannot." I am devastated as I stand before you today.