Some staff members at the school in Nashville where a mass shooting took place on Monday were armed, a 911 call has revealed.
On Monday, 28-year-old shooting suspect Audrey Hale drove to The Covenant School, a Christian elementary school in Nashville, armed with three firearms. Hale shot dead three young students and three staff members.
A woman who called 911 while hiding under a desk during the shooting said to the dispatcher that one or two staff members carry guns, reported The Tennessean.
The revelation came as officials on Thursday released two dozen 911 calls and recordings of emergency dispatches from the shooting.
The call informing the 911 dispatcher that some staff members were armed was made at 10:12:05am on Monday.
A woman who called from the office of the nursery said: “We do have a school person, or two ... I’m not sure ... who would be packing, whose job it is for security. We don’t have security guards, but we have staff.”
The woman did not name the staff members who carried weapons.
It is also not clear whether those staff members were present on campus when the shooting took place. Police have also not stated yet that any staff members at the school had a gun or fired at the shooter.
Tennessee is one of 25 US states that allows people to carry concealed guns without a permit.
There has been a debate around arming teachers in schools.
Democrats and gun safety activists have argued passing stricter laws would reduce the violence, while Republicans and gun advocates are in favour of arming teachers and staff to protect students.
Following the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, former president Donald Trump said teachers should be armed with guns – even suggesting that those that do not have them might be inviting attacks on themselves.
Last year after the Uvalde elementary school shooting in Texas, Republicans mulled a number of ideas inlcuding place armed law enforcement in schools.
On Thursday, Kentucky GOP representative Thomas Massie had a shouting match New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman outside the House of Representatives over gun control.
“You know, there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry [guns],” Mr Massie said.
