Nashville police: School shooter planned attack for months – Bennington Banner

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) – As students across Nashville walked out of class Monday to protest gun violence in the Tennessee Capitol school shootings Last week, police said the man who killed six people, including three 9-year-olds, had been planning the killing for months.

Authorities have not determined a motive for the shooting at Covenant School, a small Christian elementary school where the 28-year-old shooter was a former student, according to a Monday news release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Both Nashville police and FBI agents are continuing to review the notes left by Audrey Hale, both in the vehicle and at the home, police said.

“It is known that Hale considered the actions of other mass murderers,” the police said.

The three children who were killed in the shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adults They were Katherine Koonce, 60, high school custodian Mike Hill, 61, and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.

Hale fired 152 rounds during the attack before being killed by police. It included 125 rounds of handguns and 29-millimeter rounds, according to the police.

Outside the State Capitol on Monday, thousands rallied in a call for gun reform, many students from Nashville-area schools who walked out of their classrooms to protest. Some other students were sitting outside the speaker’s office in the legislative building.

The crowd outside the Capitol echoed chants that “thoughts and prayers are not enough,” and chanted, “All we need is love”—adding “and action!” At one point, they sat for a moment of silence, holding up posters above their heads that read, “Thoughts and prayers for dead babies useless,” “Book bags, not body bags,” and “2nd graders over 2nd amendment.” Some students wore orange-striped patches on their shirts.

Vivian Carlson, a senior at Hume-Fogg High School near Nashville, helped organize her school’s walkout. She told the crowd that her biggest fear next week, when the shooting unfolded, would be “missing the bus or my stepmom scolding me for not cleaning the cat box.” Instead, he said that the English race was missing because politicians were “protecting the old laws for a new society.”

Carlson, like many others who addressed the crowd, opposes changes to Tennessee’s gun laws, including a ban on assault weapons, and is a “red flag” tougher. Red flag laws generally allow law enforcement to temporarily release firearms from people whose statements or behavior are deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others.

“To my classmates, we can’t escape this pressure and fire,” Carlson said. “Feel the fear as you walk into school and let it move you to fight for change. And please, if there’s anything else I can do, please vote.”

Tennessee’s Republican governor and the supermajority Republican legislature have moved to loose gun laws in years On the same day as the Covenant shootings, a federal judge quietly cleared the way Lowering the minimum age in Tennessee to officially carry handguns without a permit at 18 – only two years after the new law constitute the age of 21.

Thousands examine the Capitol, Gov. Bill Lee and state attorneys contributed to the press recently to unveil legislative proposals that would increase funding for teachers and school mental health resources.

The proposals include $140 million for armed security guards at every public school, as well as $27 million to increase security at public and private playgrounds. Lee also proposes to add $30 million to expand the state’s national safety net that will work in public and private schools.

The president’s proposals must now be cleared by lawmakers in the final weeks of the session.

Notably absent from Lee’s announcement were all calls to tighten the city’s access to guns. As he stood surrounded by top Republican leaders, Lee said he believed people who felt threatened should not have access to guns, but also insisted that any law designed to address those issues should not interfere with their 2nd Amendment rights.

He called on the Legislature to find an appropriate solution. But what can be done is short after Sen. Todd Gardenhire, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters he has no plans to consider new related bills this session.

“We all agree that we all have to find something that we agree on,” Lee said. “I think we can do it and I think we will do it.”

Lee added that Gardenshire had not spoken about its stance on new gun legislation.

still AP research year It found that most US states rarely use red flag laws as the most powerful tool to prevent gun violence before it happens. The tendency of experts is due to the lack of awareness of the laws and the resistance of some authorities to enforce them as arrows and deadly guns fly.

Even after the main session ended Monday, hundreds of protesters remained at the Capitol as lawyers went into the House and the House chambers for the evening sessions. Many of the protesters entered the building, where they chanted “This is my little light” before breaking into chants of, “Hail to our children!”

It was the scene of a violent gun control protest last week. On Thursday, protesters were forced to leave the courtroom after shouting, “The children are dead!” — and two Democratic attorneys closed the house temporarily for the song “Power to the People.” through a megaphone.

Police said Hale was under medical care for an “emotional disturbance.” Authorities, however, have not established a link between that concern and the shooting. Police also said Hale did not stop before his attack.

Social media accounts and other sources indicate that the man is known as the shooter and may have recently started using the first name Aiden. Officials said Hale was “assigned female at birth” but used male pronouns on social media. However, police continued to use female pronouns and the name Audrey to describe Hale.