Police officials in Tennessee have released dramatic bodycam footage of officers responding to Monday’s school shooting at a private school which resulted in the death of six people – 3 children and 3 adults. The footage shows a team of five officers toting heavy weapons rushing methodically through the building before encountering the shooter and promptly cutting him down in a hail of gunfire. Police earlier identified the shooter, who was killed by police, as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale. They say Hale was a former student and shot through the doors of the private, Christian elementary school. Hale had drawn a detailed map of the school, including potential entry points, and conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre, authorities said. Police have given unclear information on Hale’s gender. For hours Monday, police identified the shooter as a woman. At a late afternoon press conference, the police chief said Hale was transgender. After the news conference, police spokesperson Don Aaron declined to elaborate on how Hale identified. In an email Tuesday, police spokesperson Kristin Mumford said Hale “was assigned female at birth. Hale did use male pronouns on a social media profile.” The victims were children Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all age 9. The adults were Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. Just minutes before the senseless attack, the shooter messaged a friend stating that he was “planning to die today” and that “you’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.” The dramatic, six-minute video supplements an earlier release, late Monday, of about two minutes of edited surveillance footage that shows the shooter’s car driving up to the school, glass doors being shot out and the shooter ducking through one of them. The new video from Officer Rex Engelbert’s bodycam shows a woman greeting police outside as they arrive at The Covenant School on Monday. “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are,” she tells police. “OK, yes, ma’am,” Engelbert replies. The woman then directs officers to Fellowship Hall and says people inside had just heard gunshots. “Upstairs are a bunch of kids,” she says. Three officers, including Engelbert, search rooms one by one, holding rifles. “Metro Police,” officers yell. “Let’s go, let’s go,” one officer yells. As alarms are heard going off in the school, one officer says, “It sounds like it’s upstairs.” Officers climb stairs to the second floor and enter a lobby area. “Move in,” an officer yells. Then a barrage of gunfire is heard. “Get your hands away from the gun,” an officer yells twice. Then the shooter is shown motionless on the floor. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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