The 28-year-old who shot dead six people at an elementary school in Nashville was able to buy and conceal multiple weapons in the family home despite evidence of mental health issues, police said Tuesday.
Two nine-year-old girls, a nine-year-old boy, two teachers and a school custodian died in the Monday attack, which recharged the bitter debate over gun rights in the United States.
Parents with their children joined a steady stream of mourners in front of a makeshift memorial to the victims of the massacre at the Covenant School in Nashville as the sun set Tuesday, many of them in tears.
“It’s just unimaginable to think that these beautiful kids are not going to come home again,” Lisbeth Melgar, who brought her two children to see the memorial, told AFP as she gently tucked her daughter’s hair behind her ear.
Earlier, Nashville police chief John Drake told reporters that the shooter, Audrey Hale, had been receiving treatment for an “emotional disorder,” and that Hale’s parents believed their child — who lived at home with them — had bought and later resold a single gun.
But Hale, who was killed during the attack, was armed with two assault rifles and a handgun upon entering the small Christian academy of about 200 students, which the shooter had once attended as a pupil.
Identified by police as a female who had used male pronouns on social media, the shooter had maps of the school and left a manifesto that suggested more attacks were planned.
“Audrey bought seven firearms from five different local gun stores here legally,” Drake said.
“She was under doctors’ care for an emotional disorder… Her parents felt that she should not own weapons.”
“As it turned out, she had been hiding several weapons within the house,” he continued.
Drake added that pupils and staff were not targeted individually and there was no known motive.
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– Video of police response –
In security camera footage, Hale is seen shooting through doors to enter the school before stalking the empty halls as emergency lights flash.
Hale, wearing a black military-style vest, camouflage pants and red baseball cap, moved through the building, opening fire on children and staff.
Officers were on the scene within about 15 minutes of the first emergency call.
Bodycam footage showed police moving through classrooms filled with small desks and paper craftwork.
Multiple gunshots are heard as officers close in on a sun-filled atrium, where the assailant was shot dead.
A former schoolmate, Averianna Patton, told CNN Hale sent an Instagram message the morning of the shooting.
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“One day this will make more sense,” Hale wrote. “I’ve left more than enough evidence behind. But something bad is about to happen.”
Patton said she called police to alert them at about the time the attack started.
In the search for a motive, Drake told NBC News that “there’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school.”
One of the young children killed was Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of the church’s pastor, Chad Scruggs.
“We are heartbroken. She was such a gift,” the pastor told local media.