Police Officers Who Fatally Shot The Suspect

The two police officers who fatally shot the suspect of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville on Monday have been identified.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Officer Rex Englebert and Officer Michael Collazo fired at the 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale "and fatally wounded her," bringing an end to a shooting that left six victims, including three children, dead.

Officer Englebert is a four-year MNPD veteran and Officer Collazo is a nine-year MNPD veteran.

"Chief John Drake and the men and women of the MNPD join all of Nashville in mourning today’s deaths of six innocent persons, three nine-year-olds and three adults, at the hands of an active shooter at Covenant Church/School on Burton Hills Drive," a statement from the Nashville Police read.

The police chief reported that Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the 28-year-old suspect in the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, opened fire at Officer Rex Englebert and Officer Michael Collazo from the second-floor windows as they arrived at the scene. 

After the officers cleared the building, they located Hale in a common room, where she was fatally shot by the officers. The shooting incident resulted in the death of six victims, including three children. Officer Englebert has been serving with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) for four years, while Officer Collazo has been with the MNPD for nine years.

"The first call to 911 about shots being fired in the building came in at 10:13 a.m. Officers rushed to the campus, made entry, and began clearing the building. Shots were heard coming from the second level. It was on the second floor, in a common area, that a team of officers encountered Hale shooting (she had been firing through a window at arriving police cars).

Two members of an officer team fired on Hale and fatally wounded her," Chief Drake said.

Within 15 minutes of Audrey Elizabeth Hale firing the initial shots, responding officers arrived at the scene and successfully neutralized the shooter. The victims of the tragic incident were identified as William Kinney, Hallie Scruggs, and Evelyn Dieckhaus, all nine years old, alongside Cynthia Peak and Katherine Koonce, both aged 61, and Mike Hill, aged 61 as well.

According to the police, Hale, who had attended Covenant School in the past, arrived on campus in a Honda Fit and was carrying three firearms, including two AR-style weapons and a pistol.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) released surveillance footage revealing that Audrey Elizabeth Hale had shot her way into the Covenant School by breaking through a set of glass doors located at the side entrance of the building.

In addition, the MNPD discovered handwritten notes that belonged to Hale in a nearby vehicle. These notes indicated that the attack was premeditated and carefully planned by the perpetrator.

The police reported that when officers executed a search warrant at Audrey Elizabeth Hale's residence on Brightwood Avenue, they discovered additional evidence, including a sawed-off shotgun and a second shotgun.

The investigation into the Covenant School shooting is ongoing and being led by multiple components of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Tennessee Highway Patrol are providing assistance in the investigation.
 

Read next:  A LOOK AT THE BACKGROUND OF 28-YEAR-OLD AUDREY HALE WHO OPENED FIRE AT SCHOOL