By Emily Hanson || Arts & Leisure Editor
Another school shooting struck the United States on Monday, March 27 at The Covenant School—a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Three 9-year-old children and three adults were killed in the attack, according to the police. The shooter, a 28-year-old female, was heavily armed and shot through a locked door, but was killed in gunfire with the police on the second floor of the building.
The head of The Covenant School, 60-year-old Dr. Katherine Koonce, died in the shooting. The other two adults were 61-year-old Cynthia Peak, a substitute teacher, and 61-year-old Mike Hill, a custodian. The three children were Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs, daughter of Covenant Presbyterian Church pastor Chad Scruggs.
The shooter had drawn detailed maps of the school and its entry points as she planned extensively for the attack. The police first received calls about the attack at 10:13 AM local time; those inside heard shots on the second level. By 10:27, the assailant was dead.
This attack is one of nineteen school shootings that have occurred so far in the US in 2023. Since the Columbine High School Shooting in April 1999, there have been 377 school shootings in the United States.
Emily Hanson is the Arts & Leisure Editor. Her email is ehanson@fandm.edu.