Assailant kills six at Nashville school in latest US mass shooting

Commentary

Who will be next? When will be next? Where will be next? One thing is certain: GOP Congressional inaction and 2nd Amendment lunacy guarantee there will be a next!

Another day in America, another American school shooting. This time in Nashville at a private Christian elementary school.

From the New York Times reporting:

NASHVILLE — A 28-year-old from Nashville fatally shot three children and three adults on Monday at a private Christian elementary school, officials said, leaving behind writings and detailed maps of the school and its security protocols.

In the latest episode of gun violence that has devastated American families and communities, the assailant opened fire just after 10 a.m. inside the Covenant School, in the affluent Green Hills neighborhood, where children in preschool through sixth grade had just begun their final full week of classes before Easter break.

The shooter, who the police identified as Audrey E. Hale, had entered the building by firing through a side door, armed with two assault-style weapons and a handgun, according to John Drake, the chief of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, and went to the second floor, firing shots before being killed by the police. Chief Drake said that the assailant was “at one point a student” at the school.

Surveillance video released by the police on Monday night showed the shooter drive up to the school in what the police described as a Honda Fit. In the clip, two sets of glass doors shatter from bullets before the assailant ducks into the building through the broken glass.

Wearing camouflage pants, a black vest and a backward red baseball cap, the assailant walks through rooms and hallways with a weapon drawn. At one point, the shooter can be seen walking in and out of the church office and down a hallway past the children’s ministry, as the lights of what appear to be a fire alarm flash.

The police received a report of the shooting at 10:13 a.m. and heard gunshots on the second floor when they arrived at the school, a police spokesman, Don Aaron, said. Officers went there, saw the assailant shooting, and two of the officers opened fire, killing the assailant at 10:27 a.m. in a “lobby-type area” on the second floor, Mr. Aaron said. The school does not have a police officer guarding it, he said.

Nashville PD responded to, and took out the assailant, 14 minutes after receiving reports of the shooting. How many more victims might there have been if the response had been similar to law enforcement response in other mass shootings, like Uvalde?

Nashville PD was heroic; Uvalde, inept. But, think about this…or rather should I say..why do we have to think about this? Why do we have to compare one horrific mass shooting to another horrific mass shooting. How many more children must we lose? How many more educators and school staff? How many more parents will never put their children to bed again? When will it end? How will we stop the killings?

I haven’t searched the news for the usual right-wing tropes defending the “rights” of people like this murderer to carry weapons of war. I haven’t heard gun-rights supporters quoting the 2nd Amendment while lamenting that the rational people of this country, rational people like most of my readers, want to “take their guns away.” I haven’t heard NRA spokespeople drone on about “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” without ever wondering whether their moronic defense shouldn’t really be amended to, “guns don’t kill people, PEOPLE WITH GUNS kill people!”

Don’t be foolish, my horrified, rational friends, if you believe that Congress will do anything about this. Not when US Representative Andrew Ogles of Tennessee, who represents the Nashville district where the school is located, said, in a knee-jerk response, “My family and I are devastated by the tragedy that took place at The Covenant School in Nashville this morning. We are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost. As a father of three, I am utterly heartbroken by this senseless act of violence. I am closely monitoring the situation and working with local officials.”

But, when the same Congressman Andrew Ogles sent this Facebook Christmas photo in 2021:

The other day in a post in which I (mostly) took a break from the news to talk about the emotional power of musical theater, I included a heartfelt story of my experience at a performance of Carousel in 1964 and the impact of the show’s finale featuring the song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” https://around-the-block.com/2023/03/24/taking-a-break-from-trump-desantis-and-the-maga-crowd/

As I was reading, and writing, about this latest mass shooting, I thought about that song, that finale, again. I even found my 78 rpm original cast recording album of Carousel and that finale. Breaking out a record player that can actually play old 78’s, I listened one more time, pops and scratches and all. Maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s the “Lo-Fi,” but listening to that old recording intensified the song’s emotional impact. I know it’s not much solace to the families and loved ones in Nashville or in the 131* other mass shootings in the U.S. this year, but all I can do is leave you, and them, with is this:

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark
Walk on, through the wind
Walk on, through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone

*2023 US Mass Shootings to Date