Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) is asking for the Tennessee community to focus on prayers for the Covenant School shooting victims and that there will be “time to talk about the legislation” later.
Lee addressed the tragedy in a video address on Tuesday evening, one day after Audrey Hale, 28, entered the Covenant School in Nashville and opened fire, killing three 9-year-old students — Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney — and three adults — Cynthia Peak, 61, Mike Hill, 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60.
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The governor said he and his wife, Maria, had been friends with Peak, a substitute teacher, and Koonce, the head of Covenant School since 2016, for years.
“I am calling on the people of Tennessee to pray. For the families of victims, for the Covenant family, for those courageous officers, for the family of the shooter, for those who are hurting and angry and confused,” Lee said via ABC News. “Prayer is the first thing we should do, but it’s not the only thing.”
Hale entered the school with two assault-style guns and a handgun, three of seven firearms that Hale had purchased legally. Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Hale’s parents only knew of one weapon, which they thought Hale had sold, and that Hale was under doctoral care for an “emotional disorder.” Hale identified as a transgender man.
Officers responded to the active shooter situation and fatally shot Hale within 14 minutes of the initial 911 call, per the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Officers Rex Englebert and Michael Collazo were the two of the five responding officers that shot Hale.
“Law enforcement officials and educators across our state have been working for years, especially in the last year, to strengthen the safety of schools. That work was not in vain — the courage and swift response by the teachers, officers, and this community without a doubt prevented further tragedy,” Lee said. “There will be a time to talk about the legislation and budget proposals we’ve brought forward this year. And clearly there’s more work to do.”
“But on this day after the tragedy, I want to speak to that which rises above all else,” the governor added. “The battle is not against flesh and blood, it’s not against people. The struggle is against evil itself.”
Tennessee, like many Republican-led states, has recently taken steps to loosen state gun laws. In the state legislature, lawmakers have introduced a bill to allow gun owners to bring their weapons onto college campuses and another to allow school staff members to carry a handgun.
Politicians in the state are also seeking to pass legislation that would expand the types of firearms that gun owners in Tennessee can legally carry with proper carry permits. It would rename enhanced and concealed “handgun” carry permits to become “firearm” carry permits.
In July 2021, Tennessee enacted a law that allowed the permitless carry of handguns, concealed and unconcealed, for anyone over the age of 21. Lee signed the law, citing Second Amendment rights.
Per state law, there are currently no requirements for background checks or training for handgun owners in Tennessee. Rifles and shotguns can be purchased by anyone over 18 and be carried without a permit — with some restrictions, such as the gun must remain unloaded and concealed.
Investigations are still ongoing in the Covenant School shooting, with officers looking for a motive. Drake said investigators found writings and a manifesto, as well as detailed maps of the Covenant School. The police chief said it is possible Hale had a “sense of resentment” toward the school, where she attended third and fourth grade, according to the school’s former headmaster.
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Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Tuesday that it is too soon to tell whether Hale’s actions at the Covenant School were a hate crime targeting Christians.
“As of now, a motive hasn’t been identified,” Garland said to Republican lawmakers during a Senate hearing. “We are certainly working full-time with them to try and determine what the motive is, and, of course, motive is what determines whether it’s a hate crime or not.”
