Faces of school shooting victims pictured for first time including headteacher

27 March 2023 , 21:55

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Katherine Koonce, headteacher at the school, was killed (Image: The Covenant School)

The six people gunned down in the Nashville school shooting have been identified by police as the first victim has been pictured.

The shooter, who has been identified as a 28-year-old local woman, died after being shot by police.

Emergency services rushed to the Covenant School at 33 Burton Hills Blvd, Nashville, Tennessee, US.

The three children killed were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9 years old.

The adults killed were identified as Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher, Mike Hill, 61, a janitor, and Dr Katherine Koonce, 60, who was the head of the school.

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Police have identified the shooter as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a transgender woman who lived nearby.

Metro Nashville Police Department and officials on the scene outside the Covenant School (HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Police searched her house and found detailed maps of the school.

Police, who previously said the female gunman appeared to be in her teens, have revealed the woman was gunned down by officers who engaged her on the second floor of the Covenant School in Nashville, where she was firing on staff and students in a lobby.

Police swarmed the area (John Amis/AP/REX/Shutterstock)

Investigators have been searching the shooter's home, Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake has said.

“At one point she was a student at that school," he told reporters.

"But unsure what year ... but that’s what I’ve been told so far."

Authorities described the shooter as a 28-year-old white woman who was a Nashville local.

Mike Hill, a custodian were among those shot dead (Twitter)

District Attorney General Glenn R. Funk said: "This is the ultimate crime."

He also said that a vehicle left nearby the crime scene gave police cluse to the shooter's identity.

MNPD spokesperson Don Aaron described the scene in a media briefing: "The shooting happened at 10.13am. The shooting didn't happen in a classroom.

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Children being led away from the shooting (AP)

"Officers went to the gunfire. When they got to the second floor and saw the shooter, a female. There was a five-member unit that was on the second floor at the time.

"We know at this point that this shooter is a female and appears to be in her teens. Her identification isn't confirmed.

"She had two assault rifles and a handgun. She entered the school through a side entrance and went from the first school to the second floor. By 10:27 am, the shooter was dead."

Charlie Jones