Extreme Circumstances

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By Bernd Debusmann JrBBC News, Washington

America's latest mass Shooting was put to a stop by police officers less than Four Minutes after arriving at Nashville's Covenant School, about 11 Minutes after The First 911 call was received.

The Shooting - which left three children, three staff members and The Culprit Dead - began around 10:10 AM (16:10 BST) when 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale arrived at The School and approached a side entrance.

CCTV footage from Inside The School depicts what happens next: glass doors shatter amid a flurry of gunshots, allowing the heavily armed suspect to enter. At least one Victim - 61-year-old custodian Michael Hill - was shot in this initial salvo.

For The Next Eight Minutes or so, Hale, clad in combat pants and a Red Cap , is Seen prowling the halls. Occasionally, The Suspect is Seen pointing a rifle down hallways - although it is unclear at what, or whom.

The Shooting would end by 10:27 AM with police officers fatally Shooting Hale.

Here's what we know about how The Tragedy unfolded.

What does police Body Cam footage show?

Much of what we know about the response to the shootings comes from Six Minutes of body-Cam footage released by Nashville police, Taken from two members of a five-officer team at The Scene .

The two officers have been identified as Rex Engelbert, a four-year veteran of The Force , and Michael Collazo, a nine-year veteran. At The Time the officers arrived, The Suspect was firing at police from an upstairs window, according to Nashville police.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake has said investigators believe that The Suspect 's Shooting from The Window displayed " some training" as The Shooter was firing from an elevated position slightly behind The Window " so she wouldn't be an easy target. "

The footage - which has been blurred so that The Shooter cannot be Seen - shows Mr Engelbert arriving at The School and quickly arming himself with a rifle from the boot of his vehicle. It is unclear what exact time this took place, as The Body Cam has no time stamp.

As he exits his vehicle, an unidentified woman tells him that " The Kids are all locked down" but that Two Children are unaccounted for. Soon after, The Woman - who appears to be in communication with staff members Inside - Notes that " a bunch of kids" are upstairs.

Just over a minute after arriving, Mr Engelbert and The Other officers enter The School and begin a methodical sweep of The First floor before Moving Up towards The Second , where gunfire can be clearly heard.

In a second Clip - Taken from Mr Collazo's Body Cam - an officer can be heard remarking that " we've got one down" to which Mr Collazo replies " keep pushing". The officers then begin jogging down a hall, past a Victim on the floor.

The video shows that Mr Engelbert first encountered The Shooter after rounding a corner into an atrium from where Hale appeared to be Shooting . He then fires four shots at The Shooter , who falls to the ground. Approaching officers fire four more shots and demand that The Shooter stop moving. The Suspect 's weapons are then removed as The Shooter lays motionless in front of the atrium window.

The fatal Shooting of The Suspect took place at about 10:27 AM, less than Four Minutes after officers first pulled up to The School in their vehicles.

What have police said about the response?

The actions of the officers at The Scene - particularly Mr Engelbert and Mr Collazo - are being widely praised and credited with saving the lives of other potential victims.

In an interview with The Bbc 's US media partner Cbs News , Mr Drake said that " we could have [had] far more casualties than we had".

" They immediately responded when Inside , addressed and mitigated The Suspect , " he added.

On US media outlets, police experts have noted that the response in Nashville stands in stark contrast to police actions during the May 2022 Shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. In that incident, police hesitated for an hour and 14 minutes, giving The Suspect more time to kill victims. A total of 21 people, including 19 children, were killed in Uvalde.

" I would say that under Extreme Circumstances , they [Mr Engelbert and Mr Collazo] went above and beyond, " Police Trainer Todd McGhee told The Local Tennessean newspaper. " Those first responding officers were the model response in how active shooter response should be. "

" It could have been as bad as Uvalde, based on what Hale had for firepower, " he added.

What Happened next?

Media reports about The Incident first started trickling out at about 10:30 AM, following a tweet from Nashville's fire department.

At about noon local time, children that had been evacuated from The School began arriving at a reunification centre Set Up at a nearby church. Local media has reported that all the surviving children were reunited with their families by about 1600 local time.

In subsequent hours, police had also searched The Suspect 's car and a nearby home that was listed as The Shooter 's address. There, police say they recovered more weapons, as well as diagrams and other evidence that makes investigators believe The Assault was well-planned.

" We have some writings that we're going over that pertain to This Day , the actual incident, " Mr Drake said. " We have a map drawn out of how This Was all going to take place. "

Related Topics

Source of news: bbc.com