OAN Roy Francis
11:28 AM – Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Nashville Police have released a video from the body-worn camera of one of the responding officers to Monday’s shooting. The footage showed a team of officers entering and searching the school, then finally confronting the shooter.
The six-minute video comes after two-minutes of footage was released which showed the shooter driving up to the school. The shooter then proceeded to shoot out the glass front doors before entering the school.
The newly released body cam footage came from Officer Rex Engelbert, who was one of the first officers to arrive at the school.
The footage then showed a woman meeting the police outside as they arrived.
“The kids are all locked down,” she told police. “but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.”
She directs the officers to Fellowship hall, where she said people heard gunshots. The three officers, including Engelbert proceeded to search the school room by room. They then made their way to the second floor.
The footage showed the graphic confrontation between the officer and the shooter, who was found in a lobby area on the second floor.
“Get your hands away from the gun,” an officer is heard yelling at the shooter who was then motionless on the floor.
The shooter was identified as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a former student at The Covenant School. In a press conference, police revealed that Hale had drawn out a detailed map of the school, including all potential entry points, as well as have had previously conducted surveillance of the building.
“We have a manifesto,” Police Chief John Drake said. “We have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident. We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.”
In early reports, police had initially identified Hale as woman. However, Police Chief John Drake, later revealed that Hale was transgender.
On Tuesday, a police spokesperson had said that Hale “was assigned female at birth.” However, the suspect did “use male pronouns on a social media profile.”
Three of the victims in the shooting were children. Drake listed them as being Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, who were all were nine-year-old. Other victims included Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts