Horror at US elementary school

The attacker, believed to be a 28-year-old woman armed with two automatic rifles and a pistol, was shot dead by arriving police officers, a Nashville police official said Monday. The exact identity of the perpetrator was initially unclear. The three adult victims are school employees. Originally, the police had described the perpetrator as a teenager.

Police were reportedly alerted at 10:13 a.m. to a gun attack at The Covenant School, a Christian private school in Nashville. Arriving officers began clearing the ground floor of the building and then heard gunshots coming from the first floor, Aaron said. There the police met the attacker and shot her.

Police officers with rifles, body armor, and helmets could be seen in the school parking lot and on the lawn in front of the building Monday morning. A spokesman said the victims were dead upon arrival at the local hospital. The school is a private Christian institution and serves approximately 200 children from preschool through sixth grade. There is also a kindergarten there. A mother told US television that her daughter wrote to her saying that she and her classmates hid in the closet during the incident.

Nashville is the capital of the state of Tennessee – almost 700,000 people live there.

In a statement, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said: “Nashville sadly joined the communities today who witnessed a school shooting. For now, I focus on supporting the families affected and rethinking our efforts to prevent these horrific scenarios.”

White House: How Many More Children Have to Die?

US President Joe Biden again called for a ban on assault rifles after the Nashville school shooting. He called on the US Congress on Monday to pass a tightening of gun laws he had proposed. “We must do more to stop gun violence,” Biden warned. Gun violence is tearing apart the country’s communities and the nation’s soul. “It’s sick,” said the President. The First Lady of the USA, Jill Biden, a teacher herself, was also dismayed. “I’m really at a loss for words. Our children deserve better,” she said in Washington. “We join Nashville in prayer.” There are more guns in circulation in the United States than anywhere else in the world. This makes for bleak records:

According to the latest data from the CDC, around 20,000 people were shot dead in the United States in 2020 - more than 50 a day. In addition, for the first time in 2020, gun injuries were the number one killer of children and adolescents in the United States, ahead of traffic accidents.

In May, an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, before being shot dead by police.