MNPD officers speak

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 knowing that every second, every moment wasted could cost lives, and I’m so incredibly proud of not only them, but other members of our police department as well.

“I watched video of officers who went into the school, took pulse of the victims hoping there was life and these people grabbed these kids and ran out of the school hoping to save lives, and I’m so incredibly grateful for them,” Drake said, while also thanking teachers and staff of The Covenant School who helped to both keep students safe and aid officers in tracking down the shooter.

DET. SGT. JEFF MATHES

Mathes, an 11-year MNPD veteran, said that he was organizing an office in the Midtown Hills Precinct when he heard the call.

“I knew exactly where it was based on my personal life, I do frequent that area. And I’ve always known that to be the church on the hill,” Mathes said, adding that he and other detectives responded to the school, where he encountered Officer Engelbert, who is assigned to the downtown Central Precinct, someone he had never met before.

“Officer Engelbert opened the door for me,” Mathes said. “Not knowing what I was walking into, I went through that door with purpose. I knew the gravity of the situation, what had occurred based on the context, the amount of callers, it was a serious incident.”

Mathes said that they heard and received what they recognized as rifle fire as they advanced to the second floor.

“Once in that hallway, the smell of gunpowder was in the air,” Mathes sad. “It was also very smoky, obvious that there had been [gun]fire in that area very quickly.”

“Doing what our training tells us to do in those situations and following stimulus [gunfire,] all of us stepped over a victim. I to this day don’t know how I did that morally, but training is what kicked in. We then proceeded continually toward the sounds of gunfire, and then once we got near the shooter and the shooter was neutralized.”

Officer Rex Engelbert

Engelbert, a four-year MNPD veteran, was one of the first officers to enter the school and was in the area of the school by chance that morning as he was traveling to the Metro Police Academy to complete administrative work.

“En route there, that put me in the Midtown sector so I really had no business being where I was,” Engelbert said. “You can call it fate, God or whatever you want, but I can’t count on both my hands the irregularities that put me in that position when a call for service came out for an act of deadly aggression at school.”

“I’ve been to I don’t know how many false active deadly aggression calls -- Something told me it was time to really get to this one.”

“Luckily, due to the bravery of two staff members, they stayed on scene, they didn’t run. And they gave me concise, clear information for me to use to help anyone in danger,” Engelbert continued.

DET. MIKE COLLAZO

Collazo, a nine-year MNPD veteran who works directly under Mathes, praised the work of dispatchers, and said that when he arrived on scene, a school staff member led him to the glass door that had been shot out at the start of the attack.

“As I made entry into the school, I saw an individual that I believe has been identified as a janitor,” Collazo said. “He was laid out on the ground, not moving.”

“The shooter wasn’t shooting at that point. so just like Officer Rex, Sgt. Mathes, and every other officer that had gotten there, started clearing rooms as fast as possible, trying to find where the shooter was.”

Collazo said that at one point he was “upset” that he was encountering locked doors, but said that he later was “thankful” because school staff and students were taking measures to protect themselves as police cleared the first floor and searched for the shooter.

“Once we started getting the first shots, that’s when everything kind of kicked into overdrive for us,” Collazo said. “We had gone up the stairwell, made our way down the hallway, that’s when we ran or that’s when I ran into that second victim laid on the ground. We had to push past the victim because we continued to hear more shots being fired.”

“Once the situation was ended with the shooter, like Sgt. Mathes and everybody stated, our job wasn’t done,” Collazo said. “We knew that there were victims -- We had to pass those victims, so I immediately switched gears, left that scene and ran the route that we had just taken back outside.”

“I think it clicked for every officer that was on scene at that point, it was time to start trying to render aid to the victims and start evacuating the school, so we implemented our rescue Task Force protocol.”

Midtown Hills Precinct Commander Dayton Wheeler

“Immediately my stomach dropped when I realized it was a school,” Wheeler, who oversees Midtown Hills Precinct operations said.

“I will tell you from witnessing these individuals and several other officers entering into the school, they reminded me of a scripture that said, ‘Who shall I send?’ and it says, ‘Send me,’ and I believe these individuals, along with every Metro Nashville police officer, fire department, personnel, that they answered that call.”

Wheeler said that MNPD has received “an outpouring of support” from across Nashville and from around the world.

“Part of my role is to make sure the members of my precinct are taken care of continue to stay on top of them and communicate,” Wheeler said. “I know each one of them has a great support system at home and at work, so I just wanted to add that the community as a whole has been tremendous through this entire ordeal.”

Wednesday to consider the Pearson vacancy.

The move has spurred international attention. Vice President Kamala Harris came to Nashville last week to meet with the trio, and President Joe Biden met with them via videoconference. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is among the lawyers counseling Pearson and Jones. The group of attorneys wrote to House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) urging the House to accept the interim appointments if Jones and Pearson are returned to the legislature.

Supporters then marched the few blocks from the Metro Courthouse to the state Capitol, where the House was scheduled to begin a floor session minutes after the end of the special Metro Council meeting. On the steps of the Capitol, Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles swore Jones in, returning him to his seat just four days after he was expelled.

Back on the House floor shortly after, Jones made his first comments: “I want to welcome the people back to the people’s house. I want to welcome democracy back to the people’s house. ... No unjust attack on democracy will happen unchallenged.”

Expulsion is rare in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Rep. Jeremy Durham was kicked out of the House in 2016 following a series of sexual harassment allegations. In 1980, Rep. Robert Fisher was expelled for accepting a bribe. In 1866, six representatives were kicked out of the House for opposing civil rights for the formerly enslaved.

To begin the expulsion proceedings on April 6, Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) moved to suspend the rules to show video from the day of the protest. Democrats argued that they did not know whether the video was selectively edited or relevant. Republicans allowed for the video, featuring clips of the trio standing in the well leading anti-gun chants and later describing the events in a press conference. Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons of Nashville argued that the Republican members who took the video should be punished, as rules prohibit recording on the floor.

The measure to expel Jones was heard first.

In his defense, Jones thanked Republicans for showing the video “because it showed to the world the ridiculousness of the claims that the actions of those who went to the well merits expulsion.”

He pointed to the Tennessee Constitution, which reads, “Any member of either House of the General Assembly shall have liberty to dissent from and protest against, any act or resolve which he may think injurious to the public or to any individual.”

With throngs of protestors gathering outside the Capitol and in the House chamber, Johnson and Pearson welcomed supporters prior to the vote, encouraging them to remain silent throughout the proceedings to avoid being removed from the gallery.

Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Gloria Johnson and Rep. Justin Pearson, known collectively as the ‘Tennessee Three,’ are met with cheers by hundreds of supporters inside the State Capitol on April 6, 2023, the day that Jones and Pearson were voted out of the House for participating in protests calling for action on gun violence.

House leaders suspended the rules to take up several school safety-related bills out of order at the top of the floor session, a move Jones called an “optical spectacle.”

“You ban books, you ban drag, kids are still in body bags,” the crowd chanted as legislative business was ongoing in the House.

Attendees chanted in support of the trio and called Republican leaders fascists as they moved into the chamber. With audience sections above the chamber full, additional supporters watched the proceedings on televisions in the lobby and on their phones. Their chants were audible from within the chamber.

The resolution to expel Jones passed 72-25. Republican Rep. Charlie Baum was the lone GOP member opposing the resolution, while Republican Rep. Sam Whitson