A shooting at a Tennessee private elementary school left three students and three adults dead Monday, authorities said. The victims were killed in the attack, according to Vanderbilt Medical Center. Police say officers engaged with and killed the shooter, identified as a 28-year-old female carrying two “assault-type rifles” and a handgun.
According to Fox News, The female, who was only identified as a Nashville resident, killed three students and three adults before being killed by police just before 10:30 a.m. local time.
“At one point she was a student at that school,” Nashville police Chief John Drake said. “There was a vehicle nearby that gave us a clue to who she was.” Police say the shooter entered the building through a side door before climbing stairs to the second floor, where she then opened fire.
Officials at the medical center say three young students were transported to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds. All three were pronounced dead after arrival. Three more adults were also pronounced dead following the attack. All three were staff at the school.
Law enforcement is working to contact the families of victims, none of whom have been publicly identified. Police have yet to establish any connection the shooter may have had with the school. Covenant School is a private Christian institution for students up to 6th grade, according to its website.
“We are responding to an active aggressor at 33 Burton Hills Blvd Covenant School. We can confirm we have multiple patients,” the Nashville Fire Department said Monday. “Parents coming to the school should go to 20 Burton Hills at this time, this is an active scene,” the statement continued.
The Metro Nashville PD confirmed the shooter’s death in a statement, adding that the school was already working on reunifying parents and children a safe distance away from the Burton Hills Blvd the school is on.
“An active shooter event has taken place at Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church, on Burton Hills Dr. The shooter was engaged by MNPD and is dead. Student reunification with parents is at Woodmont Baptist Church, 2100 Woodmont Blvd.,” the department wrote in a statement. The only reported injury following the attack was an officer who suffered a glass wound to his hand.
