MNPD officers speak on responding to Covenant School shooting

BY MATT MASTERS

Several members of the Metro Nashville Police Department spoke at an April 4 news conference where they recounted their actions during the March 27 Covenant School shooting, including the officers who entered the school and killed the active shooter.

MNPD Public Information Officer Don Aaron introduced MNPD Chief John Drake who spoke along with Det. Sgt. Jeff Mathes, Det. Mike Collazo, Officer Rex Engelbert, and Midtown Hills Precinct Commander Dayton Wheeler, while Nashville Mayor John Cooper sat in attendance.

Engelbert, Collazo and Mathes all engaged the shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, after Hale executed a “targeted attack” on the school and church, which took the lives of six people -- three children, Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, and three school staff members, Cindy Peak, Mike Hill and Katherine Koonce.

In the days after the attack that shocked the nation, communities across Nashville and Middle Tennessee have mourned the victims.

Chief John Drake

“Last Monday was a day that we all hope we would never see anywhere, and especially here in Nashville,” Drake said. “We’ve trained for incidents like this for years with the thoughts that if it ever happened, we would not hesitate, we will go in and we will do whatever was needed for the safety of those involved.”

Drake said that “hundreds” of MNPD officers and civilian staff responded to the incident from taking 911 calls and dispatching units, to officers who entered the school, transported victims, helped to reunify families and connect them with counseling services and more, along with numerous other local, state and federal first responders.

“Rex Engelbert, Mike Collazo and Sgt. Mathes did what they were trained to do,” Drake said. “They formed together, they got prepared and went right in,

The Metro Council on Monday unanimously voted to send expelled Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) back to the Tennessee General Assembly in an interim capacity, days after Republicans voted to kick him out of the legislature for leading an antigun protest on the House floor.

“This afternoon’s vote is unprecedented, but so was the action of the legislature,” Mayor John Cooper said, addressing the special-called meeting. “Let’s give them their voice back.”

Added Councilmember Delishia Porterfield, who lost to Jones in the 2022 Democratic primary: “We are restoring the political voice of the 70,000 people of District 52.”

A special election to fill the remainder of Jones’ original term is expected to be held later this year.

Jones, Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) and Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) faced expulsion after they gathered on the House floor days after a shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville left three students and three staff members dead. Last week, the Republican-controlled House voted to expel Jones and Pearson, while the Johnson expulsion effort fell one vote short of reaching the required two-thirds majority.

Most members of the Metro Council quickly said they would send Jones back in an interim capacity. The Shelby County Commission is meeting