Children Over Guns: 6 Dead at The Covenant School in Nashville, TN
- Wolfpak Press
- Jun 14, 2023
- 3 min read
An Op-Ed by Joie Kim
A memorial for the victims of the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville.
*TRIGGER WARNING: School violence, murder
On March 27, 2023, our nation suffered the incredible loss of six irreplaceable souls.
As America reels from another destructive school shooting, we are once again reminded of the urgency to address the deadly issue of gun violence.
It was an ordinary day in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee when the devastating events began to unfold. At 10:13 am, the police received a report that an armed assailant had intruded on the campus of The Covenant School, a private elementary Christian academy. Within minutes of arriving at the scene, the Nashville officers quickly scanned each wing of the school, ultimately killing the shooter at 10:27 am.
The shooter was soon identified as Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old former student of The Covenant School. It was revealed that Hale had legally purchased seven firearms from five local gun stores; three of these weapons were used in the attack, firing a total of 126 rounds while on school grounds. In a search warrant following the shooting, officers found more than a dozen folders and journals in Hale’s possession, including notes about school shootings, a suicide note, and a handwritten diagram of the school which indicated that the attack was meticulously planned over the course of several months.
The shooting left six dead -- 9-year-old students Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and William Kinney, and school faculty Mike Hill (61), Cynthia Peak (61), and Katherine Koonce (60). All six of these individuals, half of which were young children, were stripped of life in the midst of a community that cherished them most.
The Covenant School shooting victims (top row) Katherine Koonce, Mike Hill, Cynthia Peak, (bottom row) Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney.
Year after year, school shootings claim the lives of children in America. It is even more heartbreaking to note that the attack on The Covenant School occurred less than a year after the shooting that left nineteen children dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. After months of mourning and urging calls for reform, why is it that these lethal crises continue to take place?
The undeniable root of school shootings like these is America’s grasp on guns. Guns are more accessible now than ever, with gun shops located on every block, allowing individuals to legally claim ownership of weapons in an instant. Since 1999, over 300,000 children have experienced gun violence in schools. Unfortunately, the frequent news stories in the media covering fatal school shootings have desensitized us to these events; we are no longer shocked to hear that yet another school shooting has taken place in our country. At this point, we have become numb to news about these attacks; still, it is a terrifying realization to think that these shootings could take place in moments when we least expect them.
A couple prays at the memorial for the victims of the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Gun violence is a daily tragedy that threatens the essential human right to life. More than 500 people die every day because of violence committed with firearms -- and unfortunately, school shootings are no longer considered anything out of the ordinary. The high frequency at which gun violence incidents are taking place can negatively impact students’ right to education when they are afraid to attend schools as a result of this brutality. It is only with a restriction of such easy access to firearms that these incidents can be effectively diminished.
We need gun control. The nation has an obligation to maximize the protection of human rights -- and it is only with some form of gun control that creating the safest possible environment for individuals to exercise their fundamental right to life.
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