Three students and three staff members were killed Monday in a mass shooting at The Covenant School.
Diana Apple is the longtime administrative assistant at the school. Her son Alex Apple, a former FOX 17 News employee, shared what she witnessed that day.
“There's no playbook for processing something like this,” Alex Apple said.
Diana Apple has been working for the school since it opened 22 years ago. Spending that many years in a place, with the same people, turns colleagues into family.
As an administrative assistant, Diana is one of the first faces people see, including the day of the Covenant tragedy.
“Mom had taken a break and gone down to the Shell gas station and had come back and she started to get these alerts: ‘Take cover, shelter in place.’ [She] didn't know what was going on,” he said.
In the minutes she was gone, police said Audrey Hale made it inside the school, opening fire on staffers and children.
As his mom made her way up the hill to the school, police were flying in the parking lot. Diana gets out of the car not knowing what is happening until shots are fired. She made her way to safety.
Apple says his mother called his dad and the entire family rushed to the school. By the time they got to the building, police were everywhere.
“One of the hardest things in the aftermath of this I can only imagine is people waiting to hear from their loved ones,” he said.
One of the six victims was headmaster of the school Dr. Katherine Koonce - she stepped in front of the shooter, a true hero. Apple said this type of selfless action is something he would expect from this dedicated educator.
“The people that worked there with her thought that she was absolutely the perfect leader for that school. And you know, now she's with those three kids in heaven, and who better to have with you?”
Apple said his mother loves The Covenant School and everyone in it, he wants people to know that the school, is a kind, gentle and represents the best of Nashville.
“It's just a place that should be pure and innocent where a kid can just be themselves and so that's what's painful about something like this happening,” he said.