Shooting in Nashville: the killer has hidden an arsenal and has been treated for psychiatric problems

Audrey Hale, the woman who killed three boys and three adults at a Nashville school, bought and stashed several firearms at the home of her parents, with whom she lived, although she was being treated for psychiatric problems, police in that city in the southeastern United States said.

Two nine-year-old girls, a nine-year-old boy, two teachers and a school janitor were killed in Monday’s shooting, which rekindled the bitter public debate on the right to own guns in the United States.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake told a news conference that Hale, 28, was receiving treatment for an “emotional disorder” and that his parents, in whose house he lived, believed he had bought and then resold a single firearm.

But Hale was carrying two assault rifles and a handgun when he entered Covenant School, a Covenant Presbyterian Church education center of about 200 students that he had attended as a child.

Hale, who police described as a woman who identified with masculine pronouns on social mediahe had prepared detailed maps of the school and also left behind a written manifesto suggesting he was planning attacks elsewhere.

“Audrey Halle legally purchased seven firearms at five different local gun shops,” Drake said. Three of those guns were used in this horrific tragedy.

“He was under medical treatment for an emotional disorder,” he added. “His parents they thought you shouldn’t own guns. They were under the impression that he had sold the only gun he owned,” but “it turned out to be so he was hiding Different weapons in the house.

Drake specified that the dead children and adults were not attacked individually and that the reason for the shooting was still unknown.

In security camera video, Hale is seen shooting through the glass doors to enter the school before chasing down empty hallways as emergency alarm lights flash.

Hale, wearing a military-style black jacket, camouflage pants, and a red cap, walked through the building and opened fire on children and employees.

Police arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after the first emergency call Monday morning. Body camera footage from the officers shows them entering the classrooms, and more shots are heard as they approach the site where Hale was shot.

Averianna Patton, Hale’s former high school classmate, told CNN that she sent him direct messages via Instagram shortly before the massacre.

“This will make more sense one day,” Hale wrote. “I left more than enough evidence. But something bad is about to happen.”

Patton said this Did you call the police to give the alert voice, around when the shooting started.

Looking for a motive, Drake told NBC News there may be “some resentment” from Hale for having to go to that school.

One of the boys killed was Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of the church pastor. “We are heartbroken. It was a great gift,” Chad Scruggs told local media.

When asked if Hale’s gender identity may have been a factor in the attack, police said they were looking into all leads.

In front of the school, located in South Nashville, mourners left flowers and stuffed animals at a makeshift memorial.

Some knelt to pray. Chad Baker, 44, said he was “horrified and very sad”.

“Most days I carry a gun, but I don’t need an assault rifle,” he said. “I don’t think buying a gun should be as easy as buying flowers.”

there was more than 24 million AR-15 style assault weapons in circulation in the United States in mid-2022, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

President Joe Biden signaled on Tuesday that most Americans I’m against assault rifles and urged Congress to reinstate the nationwide ban on these weapons, which existed from 1994 to 2004 and has not been renewed.

“We are indebted to these families more than our prayersBiden said in a speech in North Carolina.

In the absence of better oversight, it is up to schools to review their safety protocols.

But “it’s not for schools to do safety,” complained Nina Dyson, a mother of four, during a small protest in Nashville for more gun control.

“Parents across the country have been calling for change for decades and there haven’t been any“He told the rally, which was scheduled before the shooting.

Attempts to ban these powerful weapons, often used in mass shootings, are clashing Republican oppositionstaunch defenders of the constitutional right to bear arms.

So far this year in the US there were 129 shootings mass attacks in which at least four people were shot or killed, according to the NGO Gun Violence Archive.