SIX people – three children and three staff – have been killed in a shooting by an ex-student at a school in the US city of Nashville, Tennessee.
Three of the victims were pupils aged nine or under at Covenant School. Police named them as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
The adult victims were named as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
The private Christian school has about 200 students.
It teaches pupils from three years old up to around 12.
Ms Peak was a substitute teacher working at the school that day. Mr Hill was a janitor and Ms Koonce was described as the Head of School on Covenant’s website.
Police said the suspect was 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who identified as transgender. Hale was “a biological woman who, on a social media profile, used male pronouns,” a police spokesperson said.
Hale was armed with three guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, and was shot dead by police.
Police received the first call about the incident at 10:13 local time (15:13 GMT) on Monday.
The suspect drove to the school in a Honda Fit and got in by firing through one of the school doors, which were all locked.
Video later released by Nashville police show Hale using a gun to gain entry by shattering glass panes on the front doors, then wandering the school’s deserted corridors – at one point walking past a room labelled “Children’s Ministry”.
In the CCTV footage, Hale is wearing what looks to be a protective vest and carrying an assault-style rifle in one hand, with a second, similar weapon also visible hanging from the left hip.
