The students and families of a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee join the ever-growing list of mass shooting victims.
For the 19th time in 2023, a place of learning has been attacked by an armed, deranged murderer.
Yes, these senseless tragedies have become routine. But that doesn’t mean that they are any easier to cope with.
That gut-wrenching feeling one gets upon hearing of a school lockdown only gets sharper. It’s more painful because this problem is only getting worse.
At Nashville’s The Covenant School, three nine-year-olds and three adults were killed.
Remember their names: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Cynthia Peak, Mike Hill and Katherine Koonce.
I hope the killer rots in hell, as I am sure she will.
I know it is hard to feel anything but sorrow at this moment. But with this tragedy comes a reminder that not all is lost. There is still courage, competence, and heroism in this world – even now.
Watch the body camera videos of the police officers who arrived first on the scene. You’ll see some of what our law enforcement men and women – at their best – do every single day.
One of the cameras is strapped to the chest of Officer Rex Englebert. The other is carried by Officer Michael Collazo.
One of the cameras is strapped to the chest of Officer Rex Englebert (above, left). The other is carried by Officer Michael Collazo (above, right).
Remember their names too.
We now know that as they pulled up to the school 28-year-old Audrey Hale, armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun, was peppering police cars with gun fire.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake says Hale was firing through a second-story window and appeared to have had some type of weapons training.
Despite the danger, Englebert and Collazo immediately exited their cars, grabbed their weapons, and ran into the school. Each was flanked by at least two other officers.
‘Let’s go,’ yells Englebert, using a key to open the doors.
They did not know what they were going to find. There may have been reports of a single shooter. But initial reports are notoriously inaccurate.
Watch how they move. Listen to their commands. They are professional and cautious. But above all else, they’re intent on speed.
‘Next. Go,’ Engleberg says, after clearing a room.
He keeps shoving the officer in front of him to keep going forward.
‘Go, Go,’ he yells – constantly moving, constantly looking for the shooter.
They sweep classrooms, check bathrooms and try every door. Then gun shots ring out again and they run towards the sound.
Englebert bounds up the stairs – seemingly two or three at a time. More gunshots and he mutters a curse under his breath.
He and the other officers turn a corner. Hale is there and it’s over in seconds.
One cannot watch this video and not be struck by the stark difference between their actions and those of police in Uvalde, Texas, who responded to the tragedy at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
In Uvalde, the police did not charge in. It’s a disgrace that will never be forgotten.
Despite the danger, Englebert and Collazo immediately exited their cars, grabbed their weapons, and ran into the school. Each was flanked by at least four other officers. ‘Let’s go. I need three,’ yells Englebert, using a key to open the doors.
Uvalde school police chief Pedro Arredondo also arrived at a scene to the sound of gunfire. But instead of treating that emergency as an active shooter situation, he determined that the armed killer was ‘barricaded’ behind a classroom door.
An 18-year-old gunman was allowed to remain in a room with dead, dying and traumatized children for over an hour while officers waited in the hallway.
For 60 minutes, Arredondo and his men – nearly all of them armed to the teeth – dithered.
He directed them to search for keys to unlock the door. Sickeningly, it was never locked.
Contrast that to the response in Nashville.
The time between the initial 911 call and the moment that police confronted Hale was less than 10 minutes.
It took what seemed to be a Herculean effort by journalists and the public to pry the details of the Uvalde failure from the Texas’ Department of Public Safety.
‘We’re not going to release anything,’ Arredondo infamously told CNN in the days after the shooting.
But eventually, it all came out.
‘My first thought is that we needed to vacate,’ Arredondo later told investigators, ‘We have him contained. … There’s probably gonna be some deceased in there, but we don’t need any more from out here.’
It was the wrong call.
He puts the lives of police before the lives of children. His decisions ran counter to active shooter training, and it may have cost lives. Its lingering shame is a gross dishonor to the profession. The cowardice is unforgivable.
I cannot be sure, but I assume that these Nashville police officers had Uvalde in the back of their minds – when they sped to the scene.
They surely didn’t want to be on the ones on bodycam footage – lingering in a hallway, while children died.
Well, that’s good.
Americans expect a lot from our law enforcement professionals. They should know that their actions will be evaluated.
However, police should also know that they will not be unfairly judged. And that they will be celebrated when they do right.
The political ‘defund the police’ slogan became a sort of rallying cry on the far left. It was even condoned by moderate Democratic politicians when it was convenient.
That’s why you should watch the video of officers Collazo and Englebert. This is why we need police.
And they weren’t the only heroes that day.
Uvalde school police chief Pedro Arredondo (above, left) also arrived at a scene to the sound of gunfire. But instead of treating that emergency as an active shooter situation, he determined that the armed killer was ‘barricaded’ behind a classroom door.
Englebert bounds up the stairs – seemingly two or three at a time. More gunshots and he mutters a curse under his breath. He and the other officers turn a corner. Hale is there and it’s over in seconds.
The footage also shows a stunningly calm woman, presumably a teacher or administrator, standing outside the school when the officers arrive.
She informs Englebert that the children are in lockdown (something else that may have saved lives).
And we’re hearing of the story of Evelyn Dieckhaus, who was killed while trying to pull a fire alarm – presumably to warn her classmates.
We cannot forget these acts either.
After Uvalde, the nation was shocked after the police failed was exposed. Let’s apply that same brutal evaluation to Nashville.
The police did their jobs but why was the shooter able to gain entry to the building?
It is too soon to hold this school to account, but it’s a question that must be answered.
Ask yourself. Is there any cost that you wouldn’t pay to prevent a similar tragedy from happening at your loved one’s school?
And why was Audrey Hale able to purchase seven weapons from five gun stores, according to police?
A source close to the family reportedly claimed that Hale was autistic ‘but high-functioning.’ Chief Drake said she was being treated by a doctor for an ’emotional disorder.’
If red flags were missed, if guns laws failed, and if new legislation is needed, we must know and act.
And the next time you have a chance to thank a police officer – do it.
You may need them to save your life.