Nashville Covenant School Shooting

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Arianna Patton got a notification on her
phone at nineteen fifty seven am on a

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Monday morning, and what she saw
prompted her to immediately notify authorities. Her

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former classmate Audrey at center and Instagram
message indicating that she was at risk for

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suicide. On her father's advice,
she called a suicide hotline, then informed

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the Sheriff's office. I was just
like, like again, I was just

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like shock, And initially I was
trying to come for her, but as

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soon as I got it, it
was just like, this is strange.

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Let me send it to my daddy. I screenshot team. I was like,

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do I call somebody? He was
like yes, And I was like,

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Okay, who do I call?
Like how do I deal with something

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like this? Like so then he
was like, called the suicide Prevention And

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then that's when I started that process
of trying to reach out. I understand

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if I'm right, Arihanna. They
told you call the local deputy. Ten

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thirteen am, you call the local
Sheriff's office. They tell you to call

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the non emergency line, which you
did immediately ten fourteen. One minute later,

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you call the Nashville non emergency line. They said they'd send someone over

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at three twenty nine, so obviously
many hours later someone arrives at your home.

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Of course, the shooting was at
ten thirteen. Yeah, you've done

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everything you could. I mean,
have you spoken to investigators since? But

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what Avriana didn't know is at that
exact same moment, Audrey was firing shots

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with their ar style rifle and unleashing
a massive attack on the Covenant School in

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Nashville, Tennessee. We're coming on
the air with breaking news. There has

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been a shooting at a Christian elementary
school in Nashville, Tennessee. Officials from

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the hospital confirmed three children were pronounced
dead after suffering gunshot wounds. Authorities say

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the gunman is also dead. We
want to go to NBC. Aiden Hale

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was previously known as Audrey Elizabeth Hale. They were born on March twenty fourth,

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nineteen ninety five, in Nashville,
Tennessee, to parents Ronald and Norma

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Hale. She was diagnosed as a
high functioning autistic and was known to be

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a pleasant person to be around for
the most part. The confusion around the

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name is because Aiden Hale was signed
female at birth and later changed his pronouns

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to he him and identified as a
transgender man, which is how I'll be

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referring to him for the remainder.
According to teachers, Aiden was the most

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kind, whimsical person to have around. Abrianna Patton recalls playing basketball with Aiden

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at it Crestwell Middle School years ago. What was what was the shooter like

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at that time when you knew her? I mean she was very quiet,

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very you know, just shy.
You know. With the team, we

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would like, you know, Lena, hey, we got your beck,

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you know, like we would joke
and be like, don't nobody, but

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nobody value too hard. You know. We got to see her grow,

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you know, in her skill on
the court. So you know, we

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did really good that year. You
know, we went all the way to

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the city. So it was a
really good year for this and like a

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real camaraderie. And when we hear
the shooter's parents saying the shooter was under

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a doctor's care for an emotional disorder, again, police have told us very

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little except where they say that the
shooter identified as transgender. Were you aware

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of any of this at any at
any point? Or is that all more

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more recent than you would know?
Yeah, this more more. I guess

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that will be more recent like I
wasn't really tapped in like that. Aiden

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attended the Covenant School from kindergarten to
sixth grade, later going on to a

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College of Art in Madison, Tennessee. Aiden also received an award for moost

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Improved in the year twenty fifteen,
graduated in twenty twenty two. I was

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a promising up and coming artist.
A teacher, Maria Calambi taught Aiden for

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two semesters in twenty seventeen, and
she knew from day one, as Aiden

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handed in the assignments that he was
a gift artist. As easy going as

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Aiden seemed to be, Miss Calambie
also recalled an episode of a big outburst

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at such a simple problem as being
unable to figure out his password, which

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was a shining example of their patients
or lack thereof. His art was bright

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and different, with a childlike quality
that so many found refreshing. His classmate

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Cody, said that the two were
commercial illustration majors and that Aiden was exceptionally

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talented. He described Aiden with a
childlike personality and that he always brought stuffed

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animals to class. One of his
pieces of digital art was even captioned to

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be a child forever, indicating their
fascination with sort of a Peter Pan kind

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of idea. At twenty eight years
old, Aiden was a freelance graphic artist

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and liked to spend free time playing
video games. According to Aiden's parents,

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they were only aware of him owning
a handgun that he sold as his mother,

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Norma, was against guns and often
spoke about how guns should be kept

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away from school. Aiden posted something
on Instagram on March thirteenth, two twenty

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three, after the death of a
former classmate, Sydney Simms. Aiden was

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reportedly infatuated with Simms and was deeply
affected when she died in a car crash.

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On the morning of March twenty seventh, two twenty three, Aiden left

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home with the red bag. His
parents had no knowledge of where he was

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headed. At nine to fifty seven
am, he messaged Avriana Patton and explained

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the post was a suicide note and
that he might be on the news.

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Worried, Patton called her father,
the suicide hotline and the police, but

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any action being taken would come too
late. She also attempted to call Aiden's

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phone, but there was no answer. At ten twelve am, Britney Grayson

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a pediatric surgeon, and her husband, Michael Wilfong, were just pulling out

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of the school's parking lot. They'd
been there speaking about their mission trip to

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Kenya. They later expressed how much
they wished they had stayed just a little

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bit longer because they could have provided
medical aid to the victims of the shooting,

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but they didn't know what was coming. No one could have known what

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was coming. Exactly one minute later, at ten thirteen, am Aiden stormed

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the Covenant School through a side entrance, shooting a hole in the glass door

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to enter. Aiden shot and killed
three nine year olds, the school custodian,

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the principal, and a substitute teacher
who was only there for that day.

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Six lives were savagely taken. Before
Aiden could be stopped. Officers were

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directed inside the building by a staff
member who explained they were missing some children.

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After evacuating the building okay, the
footage from the police body camp shows

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officers clearing the first floor as Aiden
fires at more of them from a second

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story window of the school near a
passage connecting the school to the church.

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Officers Ingle Burton Coloso arrived on the
scene and without hesitation, with quick precise

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and practiced movement eliminated the threat.
The shooter was finally dead, laying beside

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the window where moments before had been
shooting at the police that were outside.

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The entire duration of the officer's arrival, determinating the active shooter situation took just

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under four minutes, which is commendably
fast and immediate. The quick response and

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action most likely saved many other lives, but sadly, six lives were lost

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that day, including those three nine
year old students. When police raided Aiden's

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home, they discovered nineteen journals,
four hidden weapons that his parents had no

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knowledge of, including two shotguns.
They found cell phones and laptops, as

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well as suicide notes, three folders
that contained a manifesto of how the shooting

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was going to go down. Also
included was a map of the school which

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pointed out entry points. Police have
reason to believe that Aiden was going to

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target a shopping mall next and then
possibly relatives. Football teams honored the slain

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members of the school by wearing the
school decal on their helmets. The fire

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station that responded to the nine one
one call closest to the school even had

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some handmade cards from The three students
of the Covenant School who had previously visited

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the station killed that day were Evelyn
dick House, Hailey Scruggs, and William

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Kinney, all nine years old.
Cynthia Peak sixty one, a substitute teacher,

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Mike Hill sixty one, a custodian, and Katherine Koon's sixty who served

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as the head of the school.
The journey that took Aiden Hale from the

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beginning to that day is a complex
one, and we may never fully understand

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the motives behind their actions. However, it is essential to remember that mental

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health is a serious issue and we
have to create a society that supports and

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cares for those struggling with mental illness. There is also an argument to be

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made that access to weapons by someone
under a doctor's care for an emotional disorder

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shouldn't have been able to happen.
Aiden Hale had seven legally purchased guns.

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People writing this off as some sort
of transidentity crisis or a religious prejudice,

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I believe are missing the bigger picture. Did this happen because someone was mentally

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unwell? Yes? Does this highlight
a blatant need for some sort of action

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on gun control in this country.
Also, yes, look, I'm not

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smart enough to have all the answers, but I do know that if we

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do the same things we've always done, we're going to get the same things

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we've always gotten. I've heard arguments
that talk about the need for teachers to

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be armed or for more school resource
officers, making it look like the students

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are walking into a prison. Please
understand that more guns is not the answer.

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We're a country with more guns than
anyone in the world, so if

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more guns kept us safer, we'd
be the safest place on the planet.

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The bottom line is our children should
not be afraid that they're going to be

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murdered at school, but right now
they are. I didn't intend to hop

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on a soapbox during this story,
but I'm also not going to apologize for

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speaking my mind on this. You
don't have to agree with everything I just

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said, but to be a decent
human being, you do have to agree

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that enough is enough and something has
to be done.