What to know about Nashville school shooting
- Police released body camera officers confront and kill the shooter.
- The shooter was under care for an emotional disorder and hid weapons at their parents' home, police said.
- The 28-year-old legally purchased seven weapons from five stores.
- Mourners grieve the loss of Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9 years old, and Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
- Police chief tells NBC News a sense of ‘resentment’ may have fueled shooter’s attack at former school.
Tennessee Rep. Burchett says of school shootings: ‘We’re not gonna fix it’
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., on Tuesday doubled down on his comments that Congress is “not gonna fix†the problem of school shootings, saying that the country needed a “real revival†rather than gun control legislation.
Earlier this week, a shooter attacked The Covenant School in Nashville, killing six people, including three children. In the aftermath of the rampage, the third school shooting in the country this year, lawmakers returned to their well-trodden positions in responding to gun violence. Democrats called for stricter gun control legislation, with President Joe Biden urging Congress to pass an assault weapons ban. Some Republicans shifted the blame away from guns, instead pointing to the shooter’s gender identity and mental illness.
“If you want to legislate evil, it’s just not going to happen,†Burchett said. We need a real revival in this country,†“Let’s call on our Christian ministers and our people of faith.â€
He added, “If you think Washington is going to fix this problem, you’re wrong. They’re not going to fix this problem. They are the problem.â€Â
Burchett had come under fire after a viral tweet showed him claiming after the shooting, “We’re not gonna fix it,†when asked what Congress would do about the problem of school shootings.
Fear pervades Tennessee’s trans community amid focus on Nashville shooter’s gender identity
Shortly after news broke Monday of a fatal shooting at a private Christian Nashville elementary school, police said the suspect was transgender. This detail, according to trans people in the state, has poured fuel on an already combustive environment that has led many of them to fear for their safety. Â
“We are terrified for the LGBTQ community here,†Kim Spoon, a trans activist based in Knoxville, Tennessee, said. “More blood’s going to be shed, and it’s not going to be shed in a school.â€
Denise Sadler, a drag performer who is transgender, said she had already hired four armed guards before Monday’s shooting to secure a drag show she is hosting at a gay bar in Nashville this weekend. Following the anti-trans rhetoric spawned by the shooting, Sadler said she is now planning to hire eight.Â
“You don’t know if [the shooter’s gender identity] is going to trigger a community of people who already hated us to come and try to shoot us to prove a point,†Sadler said. “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of hurt going on, there’s a lot of anger going on, there’s a lot of confusion going on.â€
Melissa Joan Hart breaks down in tears as she describes helping kindergarteners run from Nashville school shooting
Melissa Joan Hart is sharing her experience guiding frightened students to safety after the school shooting in Nashville.
In an emotional Instagram video, Hart said that she and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were driving to parent-teacher conferences at her children’s nearby school when they noticed children sprinting away from The Covenant School.
“We helped a class of kindergartners across a busy highway. They were climbing out of the woods. They were trying to escape the shooter situation at their school,†the actor said, through tears. “So we helped all these tiny little kids cross the road and get (to) their teachers … We helped a mom reunite with her children.â€