Students and Teachers Need Protection. In Nashville, a woman walked into a school and started shooting. She killed six individuals, three students, and three adults. Law enforcement was on the scene within minutes to eliminate the threat. Their training and skill stopped the active shooter in her tracks, but not before beautiful lives were ended in a horrific moment of terror that would forever change everyone involved.
There is a necessity to have armed resource officers at every school. Time is wasted waiting for someone to eliminate the threat, while students and individuals lose their lives. We know, based on statistics active shooters keep killing until they are killed, or they kill themselves—very few get away.
What we know: The covenant school is a private Christian School. The age range at this school is pre-K through sixth grade. At about 10:13 AM is when people heard the shots fired. The police responded immediately. According to the chief of police, the suspected shooter was a 28-year-old female Nashville resident who was killed by law enforcement at 10:27 AM. We also know she may have been an X student. The suspected shooter was believed to have entered through a side door. She made access and went to the first and second floors. The second floor is where police engaged with her. There was a five-member police team that engaged the suspect, and in that exchange of fire, she was killed and neutralized.
That is when students were bused to the reunification location to reunite with their parents. Police do have video evidence from inside that school that will be focused on for the investigation.
The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) will be adding this mass murder to its database. Today GVA has listed 129 mass shootings in 2023, with 13 Mass murders. We know schools are where numerous shootings and violent encounters have happened, so why isn't student safety a top priority? Schools can improve student safety by adding resource officers to protect students. Having police officers on-site may deter shooters, and in a worst-case scenario, they will be faster to eliminate shooters. In the last few months, students have been hurt and killed, including, in March, a 17-year-old suspect who wounded two Denver high school administrators before he killed himself. In February, three students were killed at Michigan State University. The shooter killed himself. And in January, two students were fatally shot at a charter school in Des Moines, Iowa. The Suspect was arrested.
Please take some time and talk with your family, co-workers, and neighbors about red flag behavior and the stairway to violence. Read more about advocacy to stop the violence and where to reach out for help. We can do more to interrupt violence and help to heal the harm.
Advocacy
Sandy Hook Promise: 203-304-9780
Crisis Intervention
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
National Domestic Violence Hotline: (800) 799-7233
National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline: 1-800-950-NAMI (1-800-950-6264)
FBI Tips - https://tips.fbi.gov/