NASHVILLE, Tenn. – 3 little ones and two grown ups were being dead after a shooter opened fireplace at a tiny private Christian elementary college in Nashville early Monday, a clinic formal stated.
Officers “engaged” an energetic shooter at the Covenant School, and the shooter is dead, Nashville police mentioned on Twitter.
A few youngsters and two grown ups ended up transported to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Clinic at Vanderbilt with gunshot wounds, and all 5 have been pronounced dead soon after arrival, mentioned Craig Boerner, spokesperson for Vanderbilt University Health-related Centre.
It was not quickly very clear if the shooter was between the 5 people today taken to the medical center.
Exclusive agents from the Bureau of Alcoholic beverages, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were being on the scene. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said specific brokers and additional personnel were being responding but extra there is “no present-day threat to general public safety.”
What is the Covenant School?
The Covenant University is a private school started in 2001 that serves learners in pre-kindergarten through quality 6 and has an enrollment of about 200 students a year, in accordance to its web site.
The school is on the campus of Covenant Presbyterian Church in the city’s Green Hills neighborhood, about nine miles southeast of downtown Nashville. It can be subsequent door to a Nashville Fire Department station and less than a mile south of Nashville’s biggest searching district.
Tennessee officials ‘heartbroken’
“Our thoughts are with the families of this faculty neighborhood,” Tennessee Rep. John Ray Clemmons said on Twitter. “Praying that all the young children are safe and sound.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn said she was “heartbroken to hear about the taking pictures.” She wrote on Twitter: “My office environment is in call with federal, condition, & local officers, & we stand completely ready to assist. Thank you to the very first responders functioning on website. You should join us in prayer for people influenced.”
Moms and dads assemble at church
At the scene, scores of dad and mom and onlookers gathered in a parking ton, awaiting updates, as helicopters circled the spot, surrounded by a residential and chaotic businesses district.
Mothers and fathers ended up lining up in the sanctuary of Woodmont Baptist Church to give initial and very last names of their kids to law enforcement.
Vice Mayor Jim Shulman was in the sanctuary passing out bottled h2o to moms and dads and family members awaiting reunification.
Officers said young children would be arriving on school buses with their lecturers.
89th capturing on university grounds this 12 months
The incident marks the 89th taking pictures on college grounds in 2023, in accordance to the K-12 College Shooting Database. Previous week, a 17-year-old student shot and wounded two faculty customers at a Denver significant faculty.
Contributing: Nashville Tennessean personnel