Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and home to Vanderbilt University. Legendary country music venues include the Grand Ole Opry House, home of the famous “Grand Ole Opry” stage and radio show.
But today is a sad day for the city of Nashville, as a school head, a custodian, and a substitute teacher along with three 9-year-olds were gunned down by .
Three staff members and three pupils were killed in the attack by 28-year-old former student Audrey Hale at the Covenant School on Monday, March 28th.
The three children, all aged nine, have been named as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
The three employees killed were Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Michael Hill, 61.
Police said they did not believe any of the victims had been specifically targeted.
Katherine Koonce was the head of school at Covenant, and one parent told BBC News she was a “saint”.
“She did so much for those kids,” said the mother, who has two children enrolled at Covenant. “And now gave her life protecting them.”
“She knew every single student by name,” she added. “She did everything to help them when families couldn’t afford things, it didn’t matter. She found ways for them to stay.”
On a welcoming page on the school’s website, Ms Koonce wrote the school is “about more than simply educating our students”.
She said the school’s mission was “helping children become who God intends them to be”.
She was also the author of the book Parenting the Way God Parents: Refusing to Recycle Your Parents’ Mistake.
A bio for her on Penguin Random House’s website said she had over 18 years of experience and a master’s degree.
Mike Hill was a custodian at the school.
Tim Dunavant, a pastor at Harstville First United Methodist Church, said he had previously worked at Covenant and had hired Mr Hill over 13 years ago.
He said he would miss “those encouraging texts out of the blue” from Mr Hill, and would not be surprised if it turned out Mr Hill had sacrificed his life to save others because “he’s the kind of guy that would do that”.
Cynthia Peak was a substitute teacher working at the school on the day of the attack, police said.
TYT Newsroom
