Nashville police have released bodycam footage of the officers who responded to the Covenant School shooting on Monday. The video shows Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo entering the school and engaging the shooter, Audrey Elizabeth Hale after she had already killed three 9-year-olds and three adults.
According to Sky News,
“We now know the attacker was a 28-year-old who identified as a transgender male (a biological woman), by the name of Audrey Elizabeth Hale – initially police thought they were a teenager.
They were a former student at the Covenant School and a Nashville resident who lived with their parents.
Hale, who had no criminal history, was armed with two “assault-style” rifles and a pistol, and officers received reports of the attack at 10.13am (4.13pm UK time).”
The video begins with Officer Engelbert grabbing a rifle out of the back of his police SUV and a woman telling him, “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.” He then leads the charge inside the building, and within moments, sirens are heard and he unlocks a side door.
Officers search the classrooms before the sound of gunshots is heard around three minutes into the video. Engelbert and Collazo rush up the stairs to the second floor, and 25 seconds later, they take down the shooter.
Dave Katz, the CEO of Global Security Group and a former DEA special agent, called the two officers “heroes indeed” for their active roles in the response. Police said that Hale had attended the school years ago and had left written material indicating the attack “was calculated and planned.”
MNPD Officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to the Covenant campus Mon morning. They fired on the active shooter, who was killed. This is their body camera footage. https://t.co/17qsZM6bNp pic.twitter.com/g4b0nMTFRD
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) March 28, 2023
Hale had brought “significant ammunition” and three weapons to the attack: two semiautomatic rifles and a handgun. After opening fire on responding officers from a second-story window, Engelbert and Collazo put an end to the carnage.
Investigators served a search warrant at Hale’s home and found hand-drawn maps of the school, a sawed-off shotgun, and a second shotgun, along with other unspecified evidence.
Sen. Josh Hawley spoke and demanded a federal hate crime investigation into this tragedy.
Senator @HawleyMO calls for the Nashville shooting carried out by a crazed transgender person against a Christian school to be investigated as a HATE CRIME!
“Make your voice heard! Condemn this violence as the hate crime that it is!” pic.twitter.com/cesIq35lnj
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 28, 2023
The tragedy has left the community in shock, and the police’s quick response and brave actions are a testament to their dedication to protecting the public.
Warning: The video of the tragic events and the takedown of the suspect is graphic.
