Nashville police ID students, all 9 years old, and adults killed in school mass shooting

An assailant wielding two "assault-style" rifles and a pistol killed three nine-year-old students and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday, the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country growing increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.

The suspect, who was killed by police, is believed to be a former student at the Covenant School in Nashville, where the shooting took place.

Police said the suspect shot through the doors of the school after elaborately planning the massacre by drawing out a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building.

The shooter was armed with two "assault-style" weapons — a rifle and a pistol — as well as a handgun, authorities said. At least two of them were believed to have been obtained legally in the Nashville area.

The victims were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all nine years old, and adults Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.

The website of the Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001, lists Koonce as the head of the school.

The attack at the Covenant School — which has about 200 students from preschool through Grade 6, as well as roughly 50 staff members — comes as communities across the United States are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first-grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.

"I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building," Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at an afternoon news conference.

Drake did not give a specific motive when asked by reporters but provided chilling examples of the shooter's prior planning for the targeted attack.

"We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we're going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident," he said. "We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place."

The Covenant School was founded as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church. The affluent Green Hills neighbourhood just south of downtown Nashville, where the school is located, is home to the famed Bluebird Café — a beloved spot for musicians and songwriters.

Monday's tragedy unfolded over roughly 14 minutes. Police received the initial call about an active shooter at 10:13 a.m. local time.

Officers began clearing the first storey of the school when they heard gunshots coming from the second level, police spokesperson Don Aaron said during a news briefing.

Two officers from a five-member team opened fire in response, fatally shooting the suspect at 10:27 a.m., Aaron said. One officer had a hand wound from cut glass.