Three children and three adults killed in Nashville elementary school shooting

Three children and three adults were killed by an attacker who carried two assault-style weapons and a pistol into an elementary school in Nashville on Monday, police said.

Officers shot and killed the attacker at the Covenant School, attached to the Covenant Presbyterian church in the Tennessee state capital.

Nashville police identified the dead. They were: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all nine years old; Cynthia Peak, a substitute teacher aged 61; Katherine Koonce, aged 60; and Mike Hill, a custodian, aged 61.

The shooter was named as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28 and from Nashville.

Drake said Hale was a former student at the school. He also said Hale identified as transgender.

Aaron said there were no police personnel assigned to the school. Drake said security footage would be released.

The shooting was just the latest such horrific event. Last May, in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and two teachers were killed at an elementary school. More recently, a six-year-old shot his teacher in Virginia and a high-school student in Colorado shot two administrators.

According to the K-12 School Shooting Database resource, there have been at least 89 instances of gun violence at kindergarten through 12th-grade schools or during school activities in the US this year.

The Nashville shooting was the 128th US mass shooting this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one where at least four people are wounded or killed, not counting the attacker.

The Covenant School has about 209 students from pre-school through sixth grade and 42 staff members, Aaron said. A woman whose mother teaches at the school told reporters they texted as the attack took place.

Hannah McDonald, a reporter for News Channel 5, told viewers her mother-in-law worked at the school but was on a break when the shooting happened.

Legislative leaders said the Republican-dominated Tennessee statehouse would meet briefly on Monday evening and delay taking up any legislation.