Security footage shows children sprinting out of a wooded area and across a busy street as they fled a shooting Monday at The Covenant School in Nashville.
A home Nest camera captured the moment cars stopped in the middle of the road as a group of children emerged from the woods less than a half-mile from their school. Sirens could be heard blaring in the background.
Three 9-year-old students, Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, were killed in the attack as well as substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, school head Katherine Koonce, 60, and custodian Mike Hill, 61.
The shooter, identified by police as Audrey Hale, was fatally shot by Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo. Hale, who authorities said was transgender, was a former student of the private Christian school.
More on the Nashville school shooting
Actor Melissa Joan Hart said she and her husband, Mark Wilkerson, were driving to a parent-teacher conference at their children’s nearby school when they saw children running 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,”‘ she said in an Instagram video, 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.”
She continued: “I don’t know what to say anymore. Enough is enough. And just pray. Prayer for the families.”
Police said the shooter was armed with two AR-style weapons and a handgun and shot through a locked school door to gain entrance. Police received their first call about the shooter at 10:13 a.m. local time.
When officers arrived, they heard gunshots coming from the second floor and “immediately went to the gunfire,” a police spokesperson said. Body camera video released Tuesday morning by police shows the moment Engelbert and Collazo confronted and killed the shooter.
Authorities also said Hale carefully planned the attack with detailed maps and surveillance and left behind writings that are being studied by local and federal investigators. There were also indications that Hale had planned to target other locations, police said.
A motive remains unclear, although the police chief said “resentment” may have played a role in the attack.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
