NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has announced the names of two officers who worked with first responders to take down an active school shooter at a Christian school earlier this week.
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Police say Officer Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran of the force, and Officer Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to The Covenant School campus on Monday morning.
[MORE: Children lost in shooting were ‘feisty,’ a ‘shining light’]
They fired on suspect Audrey Hale who was then killed, according to MNPD.
In the heartbreaking tragedy, Hale, a former student at The Covenant School, allegedly killed three students and three staff members, in which police now say shots were fired indiscriminately at victims.
Among the victims were three 9-year-olds and the head of the school — but police spokesperson Don Aaron said at a news conference Tuesday that Hale did target “this school, this church building,”
Hale’s motive remains unknown, Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Drake said investigators don’t know what drove Hale but believe the shooter had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”
Several departments, agencies, and thousands of citizens from across Facebook reacted to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s post, many with words of encouragement and prayers for the officers and crews who responded that day.
You can read more about the incident here.