NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Police said the person who killed six people, including three 9-year-old children, at a school shooting in Nashville last week, had been planning the attack for months.
Police have not established a motive for the shootings at The Covenant School, a small Christian elementary school where the 28-year-old shooter was once a student, according to a Monday news release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Both Nashville police and FBI agents continue to review writings left behind by Audrey Hale, both in Hale’s vehicle and home, police said.
“It is known that Hale considered the actions of other mass murderers,” police said.
The three children who were killed in the shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adults were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the 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.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers held a press conference on Monday to unveil legislative proposals that would add more funding for school resource officers and mental health resources.
The proposals included $140 million to place an armed security guard at every public school, as well as $27 million to enhance public and private school security. Lee is also proposing adding $30 million to expand the state’s homeland security network that will work with both public and private schools.
The governor’s proposals must now clear the Legislature as lawmakers are in their final weeks of the session.
As he stood surrounded by top Republican leaders, Lee said he believed that people who are a threat to themselves should not have access to weapons, but also stated that any law designed to address those concerns shouldn’t impede 2nd Amendment rights.
He called on the Legislature to find the appropriate solution. Yet that call to action may be short-lived after Sen. Todd Gardenhire, who chairs the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters that he has no plans to consider any new gun-related bills this session.
“We all agree that we should all find something that we agree upon,” Lee said. “I think we can do that and I think we should do that.”
Lee added that he had not talked to Gardenhire about his stance on halting new gun legislation.
