Nashville police chief John Drake says that school shooter Audrey Hale was “under doctor’s care for an emotional disorder” and had hidden seven legally purchased weapons at her family home.
Chief Drake said that three of the weapons were used in the horrific incident. He said that Hale’s parents knew she had one gun but believed she had sold it and had no other weapons.
He added that the police force “knew nothing” about the treatment but that “her parents felt she should not own weapons.”
Earlier, police released graphic bodycam footage of the moment officers shot dead Nashville mass shooting suspect Audrey Hale after six people were killed in an assault on a private Christian elementary school on Monday morning.
The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) previously shared surveillance camera footage of Hale, 28, arriving at the Covenant School in the Green Hills suburb of the southern city in a silver Honda Fit car, parking and then proceeding towards the school before entering via a side door, blasting through glass double doors and opening fire on staff and students.
Students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all aged nine, died in the incident, as did headmistress Katherine Koonce, 60, and staff members Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, both aged 61.
Police said that the suspect, who was armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, was a former student at the school who had methodically planned the attack and may have harboured “resentment” against the institution.
