Victims of Nashville School Shooting Identified, Including 3 9-Year-Old Children

The three children have been identified by Nashville authorities as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9 years old

Three children and three adults were killed during a shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville after a 28-year-old former student opened fire inside the building Monday morning.

The three children have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old. The three adults were identified as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61, according to Nashville Metro Police Department.

Don Aaron, the Nashville Police Department spokesman, said the shooter entered The Covenant School through the side entrance before opening fire. The assailant was engaged on the second floor of the building by two police officers who responded to a 10:13 a.m. call, and died at the scene, Aaron said. Nashville Police Chief John Drake said during a Monday afternoon press conference that the shooter was a former student at The Covenant School.

Aaron added there are no other gunshot victims, but a police officer was injured by broken glass.

The shooter had two "assault-type rifles" and one pistol, and was dead by 10:27 a.m., said Aaron.

According to its website, The Covenant School was founded in 2001 by the Covenant Presbyterian Church, and the average enrollment is 195-210.

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According to statistics from the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, regardless of the number of fatalities, there were 128 mass shootings in 2023 as of Monday morning.

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