According to experts, Nashville's police response was "exactly opposite" that of Uvalde.
Body-camera footage shows officers rushing to confront elementary school shooter armed with two assault-style weapon
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| Individuals compose messages on crosses at a passage to the Pledge School on Tuesday in Nashville. ( (AP/John Amis) |
A mass murderer was confronted by police at an American elementary school for the second time in ten months. However, unlike last spring in Uvalde, Texas, this time, The Nashville officers at the Covenant School rushed right in.
Bodycam footage that was released on Tuesday shows heavily armed police officers methodically sweeping colorful classrooms and hallways lined with backpacks until they find and kill the suspect, a response that experts described as "textbook."
"They worked really hard in an extremely high-stress circumstance," said AJ Yokley, an educator in guns and building clearing at the Tennessee Policing Foundation in Nashville. " You are entering a circumstance where you can hear the gunfire. They did run toward the sound of gunfire, which is a difficult thing to do. They all displayed a tremendous amount of bravery.
Robert Carlson, owner of the Brave Defender Training Group in Memphis and a firearms instructor, stated that the Nashville police response was the "exact opposite" of how they responded to the attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in May, when an 18-year-old armed with an AR-15 killed 19 students, two teachers, and injured 17 others.
In direct contradiction to mainstream law enforcement training for active-shooter situations since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, police waited 77 minutes to confront the Uvalde shooter. Last week, the Texas Tribune reported that some police officers in Uvalde said they were afraid to enter the school because they knew the shooter had an AR-15.
[Paradox in policing: Currently, officers carry AR-15s frequently. However, they still feel outnumbered.]
According to Nashville police, Audrey Hale, the shooter in the Nashville shooting, was also heavily armed. She had three guns, two of which were assault weapons. According to the video that was released on Tuesday, when police discovered Hale alone on the second floor, the school was locked down and its hallways were empty. The video does not clearly show the three young students and three employees who were killed, and there do not appear to be any other potential victims nearby. However, according to Carlson, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department's response was nevertheless reassuring.
“We already knew what ‘right’ was supposed to look like before Uvalde. Uvalde was an example of an utter failure,” Carlson said. “So for a lot of people in law enforcement, it was a reinforcement of what we’re supposed to be doing. Because we saw that failure and the tragic result that came from it.”
At 10:13 a.m. on Monday, police received a 911 call about an active shooter at a school. A woman outside the school informed Metro Nashville Police Officer Rex Engelbert that there had been gunfire, the shooter was upstairs, the children were locked up, and two were missing when he arrived at the scene several minutes later.
Engelbert replied, "Yes, ma'am."
With his tactical rifle, Engelbert approached the door and glanced back to see other officers approaching. One was conveying a shotgun; another, a firearm. I need three! Three, please!” He yells.
After 17 seconds, he inserted a key into the door and entered the school as the alarms went off.
Marko Galbreath, a former police officer who is the founder of T4Tactics, a Virginia-based company that specializes in active-shooter training, stated, "They don't waste any time going in, and they put the rifle first, which is your best option." T4Tactics is based in Virginia.
Engelbert heard gunshots upstairs and raced up a stairwell after the officers cleared classrooms and hallways on the first floor for two minutes and fifteen seconds. The shooter was followed by officers in Engelbert's direction down a hallway that led to an atrium, where Hale was standing in front of a wall of glass windows. At 10:24 a.m., Engelbert fired four times.
"They heard gunfire and quickly raced to that and afterward dealt with this horrendous circumstance," John Drake, head of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Division, said at a Tuesday news preparation. " Given everything that was going on and the danger, I was very impressed when someone took charge and said, "Let's go!" Let's move! Let's move! and entered."
The Impact of Blast: What an AR-15 bullet can do to a person's body was captured by a second body camera from the perspective of Nashville's SWAT team paramedic officer Michael Collazo as he approached the dead suspect who was still holding a gun. Collazo discharge four additional shots and hollers, "Quit moving! Quit moving!" before disarming the suspect with two guns.
Police released security camera footage late on Monday that showed Hale entering the school through a glass door and firing an assault rifle before stalking through the hallways and peering into offices. As Engelbert, Collazo, and others entered the atrium, gunfire could be heard in the body-camera footage. Drake said Hale killed himself by firing on responding officers from a window on the second floor.
Galbreath expressed numerous in the policing honed their dynamic shooter plans after Uvalde, focusing on the significance of pursuing the shooter immediately.
He continued, "You don't have the luxury of waiting for backup." It's nice to finally see an effective, prompt response.
Drake said he had spoken with the officials associated with the reaction and that President Biden had plans to talk with them, also. " Drake stated, "They're trying to decompress, trying to make sense of everything."
The shooting has brought attention to Tennessee's gun laws, which supporters of gun control claim are among the loosest in the nation.
Drake said Hale, who had legally bought multiple guns, had been treated by a doctor for an unidentified emotional disorder in the past. The chief went on to say that Hale's parents told law enforcement officials after the shooting that they thought Hale shouldn't have guns.
Tennessee is not one of the 19 states that has enacted a red-flag law, which allows law enforcement and citizens to petition to have a person who poses a threat to themselves or others legally removed from their possession of a firearm.
A red-flag bill was introduced in 2020 by state Rep. Gloria Johnson (D), but it was met with strong opposition from state Republican leaders who argued that such statutes were unconstitutional. That summer, the bill was put off.
Following the shooting at the Uvalde school in June, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) issued an executive order requiring, among other things, more active-shooter training for law enforcement and increased security assessments of public schools. Gun laws were not addressed in the order.
Lee stated to reporters the previous year, "We are not looking at gun-restriction laws in my administration right now." Criminals break the law. Criminals violate the law. Laws are broken by criminals, whether they are drug laws or gun laws. We have no say over what they do.
On Tuesday, his office did not respond to a comment request.
Johnson, a former educator, encountered students who had transferred from Columbine schools following the 1999 massacre when she taught in Jefferson County public schools in Colorado in the early 2000s. "The laziest, most dishonest argument I've ever heard" was how she described Lee's statement regarding gun control laws.
"Why do we have laws against murder in that case?" Johnson inquired, It is so disheartening to consider that we have no options. Republicans are disregarding these sensible measures to prevent the wrong people from owning firearms in order to please the National Rifle Association and the Tennessee Firearms Association. I am unable to comprehend the mentality."
This report was contributed to by Holly Bailey.
The Nashville school shooting
What occurred: Six adults and students were killed in the Nashville shooting rampage that was started by a former Covenant School student. Bodycam footage from Nashville police shows officers confronting the shooter and opening fire. According to experts, the police's response to the Nashville school shooting was "exactly opposite" their response to the Uvalde massacre.
The sufferers: The school's head, a substitute teacher, and a custodian, as well as three adult staff members, were killed. The victims were all 9-year-old students. Everything we know about the victims is listed here.
The assailant: Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, of Nashville, was identified as the shooter by the police. The chief of police said Hale was transgender. Based on compiled facility maps, authorities assert that Hale had planned the shooting beforehand. In Instagram messages, Hale warned a friend of "something bad" before the shooting. At this time, no motive is known.