More details are emerging about the attack on the Covenant School and the resulting police response on the morning of Monday, March 27.
Surveillance video, police body camera footage, nearly two dozen 911 calls, and witness accounts show how gunfire shattered what had started as a typical morning. Approximately 200 students and staff were inside the combined church and school facility at 33 Burton Hills Blvd. in Green Hills when the attack began.
Assailant arrives
9:53 a.m. Surveillance cameras show 28-year-old Audrey Hale arriving to the church parking lot in a gray Honda Fit. Four minutes later, Hale uses Instagram to send a direct message “last goodbye” to a former middle school basketball teammate, according to NewsChannel 5.
That acquaintance, with deep concern, calls a suicide prevention helpline. It’s three minutes before the violence begins.
Alarms blare
10:11 a.m. The attacker shoots through two sets of glass doors, triggering alarms that would continue sounding over the coming minutes.
According to 911 calls, at least one teacher steps into the hall, wondering if a fire drill is underway.
10:12 a.m. Dispatchers received the first four calls to 911. Those inside report gunshots. Some have seen Hale. One staff member will spend the next 30 minutes on the line, regularly receiving calming advice from the dispatcher.
Over the next 15 minutes, Hale fires 152 rounds — 126 from a rifle and 26 from a pistol.
10:13 a.m. The attack has already begun when the concerned acquaintance next calls the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, followed shortly by a call to the city’s non-emergency phone number.
Escalating gunfire
10:14 a.m. Within three minutes of Hale’s entry, a witness has reported hearing at least 20 gunshots. Another caller soon reports hearing gunshots upstairs, where staff knew students were in classrooms.
10:15 a.m. Nashville dispatchers have officers en route to Covenant.
What happens over the next five minutes is not yet clear, but surveillance footage shows Hale moving through a church office and traveling past an area marked as the Children’s Ministry.
Meanwhile, leaders at another Presbyterian church have learned of the attack and begin to message their congregations and families, according to The Associated Press.
Officers arrive
10:22 a.m. Metro officers arrive, including Officer Rex Englebert, who interacts briefly with two staff members outside. They tell him that many students are on the second floor, but that two students are “unaccounted for.”
In small groups, officers methodically move through the first-floor hallways and classrooms.
10:24 a.m. Officers are “engaged” with Hale, who fires on arriving police vehicles from a second-floor window, according to Police Chief John Drake. Gunfire is audible in body-worn cameras.
Within the next two minutes, officers run up two different stairwells to reach the second level.
10:27 a.m. Less than four minutes after arriving, Officers Englebert and Michael Collazo each fire four shots, fatally striking Hale.
Reunification begins
10:39 a.m. The first official confirmation is made public by the Nashville Fire Department, which cites an “active aggressor” and “multiple patients” at the school.
10:48 a.m. As officers continue to sweep through the building, dispatchers receive a 911 call from a trio of teachers — along with 28 students — who are locked in a closet. An officer is outside the door, and the teachers ask dispatch for confirmation that stepping out is safe.
This is a developing account of the shooting at the Covenant School that was last updated at 1:15 p.m., Monday, April 3.
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