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Heartbroken Nashville community grapples with school shooting as police uncover more details about the shooter | CNN

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2 years ago

March 29, 2023

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Heartbroken Nashville community grapples with school shooting as police uncover more details about the shooter | CNN

Editor’s Notice: This story accommodates graphic descriptions of violence.

CNN
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As a heartbroken Nashville group grapples with the mass taking pictures that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old youngsters and three adults at a non-public Christian college, police are uncovering extra particulars concerning the 28-year-old shooter.

The assault unfolded over 14 minutes Monday morning at The Covenant Faculty, with the closely armed shooter firing into the elementary college to realize entry and killing six individuals earlier than being fatally shot by responding cops.

The mother and father of the shooter, recognized as Audrey Hale, advised police they knew Hale had purchased and offered one weapon and believed that was the extent of it, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake stated Tuesday.

However Hale, who was underneath take care of an emotional dysfunction, had legally purchased seven firearms that have been hidden at residence, Drake stated. Three of these weapons, together with an AR-style rifle, have been used within the assault Monday.

Police have stated the assault was pre-planned, discovering that Hale had detailed maps of the varsity in addition to writings associated to the taking pictures and had scouted a second attainable assault location in Nashville. Hale’s childhood buddy additionally revealed the shooter despatched her disturbing messages simply earlier than the assault.

The assault marked the nineteenth taking pictures at a college or college thus far in 2023 that left at the very least one particular person wounded, a CNN rely reveals. It was additionally the deadliest US college taking pictures in almost a 12 months, for the reason that Might assault in Uvalde, Texas, left 21 useless.

As terrified schoolchildren and academics have been led to security out of The Covenant Faculty Monday, phrase unfold of those that have been misplaced: three younger youngsters, the top of their college, its custodian and a substitute trainer.

“All of Tennessee was harm yesterday, however some mother and father awoke with out youngsters, youngsters awoke with out mother and father and with out academics, and spouses awoke with out their family members,” stated Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee, who additionally misplaced an in depth household buddy within the taking pictures.

The shooter despatched a disturbing Instagram message to a childhood buddy simply earlier than 10 a.m. Monday, saying “I’m planning to die as we speak” and that it could be on the information, the buddy Averianna Patton advised CNN on Tuesday.

Patton, a Nashville radio host, advised CNN she was the shooter’s childhood basketball teammate however they hadn’t spoken in years and is not sure why she obtained the message. Patton stated she then known as a suicide prevention line and the Nashville Davidson County Sheriff’s Workplace at round 10:13 a.m.

That’s the identical time police in Nashville say they received a 911 name of an lively shooter inside The Covenant Faculty.

Writings left behind by Hale revealed the assault “was calculated and deliberate,” police stated. The shooter had a drawing of methods to enter the constructing and “assaults that will happen,” Drake stated at a Tuesday information convention.

The attacker was “ready for confrontation with legislation enforcement, ready to do extra hurt than was truly completed,” Drake stated Monday.

Former teammate of Nashville college shooter received uncommon Instagram messages earlier than rampage

Hale had focused the varsity, however it’s believed the scholars have been fired upon at random, police stated.

“This college, this church constructing was a goal of the shooter, however we’ve got no info at current to point that the shooter was particularly concentrating on any one of many six people who have been murdered,” police spokesman Don Aaron stated Tuesday.

Whereas the motive stays underneath investigation, police say Hale in some unspecified time in the future was a scholar at The Covenant Faculty.

Hale graduated from Nossi Faculty of Artwork & Design in Nashville final 12 months, the president of the varsity confirmed to CNN. Hale labored as a contract graphic designer and a part-time grocery shopper, a LinkedIn profile says.

Police have referred to Hale as a “feminine shooter,” and at a night information convention added Hale was transgender. Hale used male pronouns on a social media profile, a spokesperson advised CNN when requested to make clear.

Armed with three firearms, the shooter received into the varsity by firing by glass doorways and climbing by to get inside, the place the shooter could possibly be seen strolling by the hallways and pointing an assault-style weapon, surveillance video launched by Metro Nashville Police reveals.

The primary name concerning the taking pictures got here in at 10:13 a.m. and police rushed to the varsity, arriving at 10:24 a.m., in line with the police chief.

Police on Tuesday launched body-camera footage from the 2 officers who opened fireplace on the shooter after speeding into the varsity on Monday.

The footage, from the body-worn cameras of officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, begins with Engelbert arriving on the college to discover a lady outdoors who says the varsity is on lockdown however there are two youngsters unaccounted for.

After the officer is given a key to open a door into the constructing, a gaggle of 5 officers enter the varsity amid wailing fireplace alarms and instantly go into a number of empty lecture rooms rooms to search for the suspect.

As they clear the rooms, officers hear gunfire from upstairs and rush as much as the second flooring, the place Engelbert, armed with an assault-style rifle, fired a number of instances at an individual close to a big window, who dropped to the bottom, the video reveals.

Collazo then appeared to shoot the particular person on the bottom 4 instances with a handgun, yelling “Cease shifting!” The officers then strategy the particular person, transfer a gun away and radio “Suspect down! Suspect down!”

The shooter was useless at 10:27 a.m., Aaron stated.

As a non-public college operated by a church, there was no college useful resource officer assigned by town to protect the varsity, in line with Aaron.

Requested concerning the roughly 11-minute hole between when police obtained the primary name of an lively shooter and when officers arrived on the college, the police chief advised reporters, “From what I’ve seen, I don’t have a specific drawback with it. However we all the time wish to get higher. We all the time wish to get there in two or three minutes and so there’s lots of issues that might have occurred – site visitors was locked down, and so on.”

Photo of Covenant School Shooting victims Katherine Koonce, Mike Hill, Cynthia Peak, Evelyn Dieckhaus and Hallie Scruggs.

The victims of the taking pictures included three 9-year-old college students: Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, the daughter of lead church pastor Chad Scruggs. Additionally killed have been Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute trainer; Katherine Koonce, the 60-year-old head of the varsity; and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian, police stated.

“Our group is heartbroken,” The Covenant Faculty, a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, stated in a press release.

“We’re grieving large loss and are in shock popping out of the phobia that shattered our college and church,” the varsity stated.

Sissy Goff, considered one of Koonce’s pals, went to the reunification heart after the taking pictures and suspected one thing was flawed when she didn’t see Koonce there.

“Figuring out her, she’s so sort and powerful and such a voice of purpose and simply safety for those that she would have been there in entrance dealing with every thing, so I had a sense,” Goff stated.

Robin Wolfenden prays at a makeshift memorial for victims outside the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday.

Peak, a substitute trainer, was finest pals with Tennessee First Woman Maria Lee and was imagined to go over to the Lees’ residence for dinner Monday night, Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee stated in a video assertion Tuesday.

“Maria awoke this morning with out considered one of her finest pals, Cindy Peak,” the governor stated.”Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce have been all academics on the identical college and have been household pals for many years,” he added.

Some households of the victims have launched statements as they mourn their loves ones. Hill was described as a father of seven youngsters and grandfather to 14 who beloved to prepare dinner and spend time along with his household, his household stated in a press release obtained by CNN affiliate WSMV.

Evelyn’s household launched a press release calling her “a shining mild on this world.”

The town of Nashville is planning a vigil on Wednesday night time to mourn these misplaced within the mass taking pictures, in line with Nashville Mayor John Cooper. It’s going to happen at One Public Sq. park at 5:30 p.m. native time.

“It will be important that we stand collectively on this darkish day for Nashville,” he stated within the tweet. The town has additionally arrange a fund to assist help the survivors of the taking pictures, Cooper stated.

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Dutch pensions to invest €100bn in risky assets boosting Europe’s defence efforts

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2 hours ago

March 30, 2025

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Dutch pensions to invest €100bn in risky assets boosting Europe’s defence efforts

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Dutch pension funds are set to plough tens of billions of euros into risky assets in Europe, as their move to a system without fixed benefits supports the continent’s efforts to attract investment and bolster its defence sector.

Reforms being rolled out in the Netherlands could lead to its €2tn pensions industry — one of the largest in the world — boosting investment in private equity and credit investments by about 5 percentage points over the next five years, said the head of the biggest Dutch asset manager.

The “largest part” of the anticipated €100bn is expected to be deployed in Europe owing to “more attractive valuations” and a wish to have a “real-world impact”, Ronald Wuijster, chief executive of APG Asset Management, told the Financial Times.

He added that Dutch funds might be able to do “even more” to finance defence initiatives in the continent, saying that APG had already invested about €2bn in companies that contribute to the defence industry.

Wuijster’s comments came as the EU has been under pressure to raise defence investment, with former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi last year calling on the bloc to boost investments by €800bn annually to keep up with US and China. US President Donald Trump has also demanded governments shoulder a greater burden for Europe’s security.

“There used to be a penalty for private investments and for credit risk that is now diminishing, which increases the budget to take more risk,” Wuijster said.

He added that the reforms would allow investors to consider assets with “a slightly higher risk profile”, predicting an increase of “five-ish” percentage points in risky assets, as well as higher allocation to private assets and credit spreads.

In 2023, Dutch senators passed a law to transition the country’s occupational pension system into a model in which pension funds no longer guarantee a fixed retirement income to members. The transition is expected to take place between 2025 and 2028.

The old defined benefit system pushed the schemes into liquid, low-risk assets such as government bonds by requiring pension funds to closely match assets with long-term pensions owed.

The funds will now be able to set target returns that can fluctuate with market movements, removing some liability driven constraints and increasing their risk appetite.

This was a significant step because “psychologically, it puts the funds closer to regular lifecycle investing . . . and on that measure, Dutch pensions are probably taking too little risk”, Wuijster said.

ABP, which is responsible for the pensions of Dutch civil servants and is by far the largest fund managed by APG with €544bn of assets, expects to transition to the new system by 2027.

At the end of last year, just over a quarter of ABP’s assets were in private markets. About 40 per cent of its private equity exposure was in Europe, which also had 57 per cent of its global allocation in private credit.

Wuijster said this geographical balance could continue under the new system, and that the shift into private assets and credit would be “a very gradual process” taking place “over the next five years”.

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FCC chair opens investigation into Disney and ABC over DEI practices

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2 hours ago

March 30, 2025

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FCC chair opens investigation into Disney and ABC over DEI practices

The Walt Disney Co. logo appears on a screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 8, 2017.

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Brendan Carr, who was picked by President Trump to chair the Federal Communications Commission, said he’s ordering an investigation into the Walt Disney Co. and its ABC television network over concerns that they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

In a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger, Carr said the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau will review whether Disney or ABC have violated any FCC equal employment opportunity regulations. He added that the probe will apply to both past and current policies.

“Numerous reports indicate that Disney’s leadership went all in on invidious forms of DEI discrimination a few years ago and apparently did so in a manner that infected many aspects of your company’s decisions,” Carr wrote on Thursday.

The inquiry comes after Disney scaled back its diversity efforts, either by dropping certain initiatives or softening language around DEI.

A GMC pickup truck is displayed for sale on a lot at a General Motors dealership in Austin, Texas. Last year, General Motors told investors in its annual report that "we are committed to fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion." But in its latest report, published last week, GM doesn't mention diversity once.

Among the changes, Disney+ shortened its warning about racist stereotypes on certain classic movies, like Aladdin and The Jungle Book, removing a longer message written in 2020 that also expressed the company’s commitment to an inclusive community.

Last month, Disney also told employees it would replace “Diversity & Inclusion” for “Talent Strategy” as a performance factor to evaluate executive compensation, Axios reported.

In the letter on Thursday, Carr said although he acknowledged Disney’s recent efforts, he wanted to make sure they were not just surface-level, adding that “all discriminatory initiatives” needed to come to an end.

“Although your company recently made some changes to how it brands certain efforts, it is not clear that the underlying policies have changed in a fundamental manner,” he said.

An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York.

Carr took issue with Disney’s Reimagine Tomorrow initiative, which he accused of being a “mechanism for advancing its DEI mission.” The initiative’s social media described itself as a platform meant to amplify “stories and storytellers that inspire a more inclusive world.” While some of its social media accounts remain active, the Reimagine Tomorrow website itself was taken down last month, according to archived versions on the Internet Archive. Axios first reported the website deletion.

Carr also cited a 2020 memo outlining ABC’s updated inclusion standards, which required at least 50% of regular and recurring characters must be drawn from “underrepresented groups.” The same applied for actors and writing staff, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In a statement, Disney said: “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions.”

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‘Should I Fire Him?’ Inside Trump’s Deliberations Over the Fate of Michael Waltz

Published

11 hours ago

March 29, 2025

Press Room

‘Should I Fire Him?’ Inside Trump’s Deliberations Over the Fate of Michael Waltz

For much of this week, President Trump was consumed by a single question. What should he do about his national security adviser, Michael Waltz?

“Should I fire him?” he asked aides and allies as the fallout continued over the stunning leak of a Signal group chat set up by Mr. Waltz, who had inadvertently added a journalist to the thread about an upcoming military strike in Yemen.

In public, Mr. Trump’s default position has been to defend Mr. Waltz and attack the media. On Tuesday, the day after Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic broke the story about being included in the chat, the president said Mr. Waltz was a “good man” who had nothing to apologize for.

But behind the scenes, Mr. Trump has been asking people inside and outside the administration what they thought he should do.

He told allies that he was unhappy with the press coverage but that he did not want to be seen as caving to a media swarm, according to several people briefed on his comments. And he said he was reluctant to fire people in the senior ranks so early in his second term.

But for Mr. Trump, the real problem did not appear to be his national security adviser’s carelessness about discussing military plans on a commercial app, the people said. It was that Mr. Waltz may have had some kind of connection to Mr. Goldberg, a Washington journalist whom Mr. Trump loathes. The president expressed displeasure about how Mr. Waltz had Mr. Goldberg’s number in his phone.

On Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump met with Vice President JD Vance; the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles; the White House personnel chief, Sergio Gor; his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and others about whether to stick with Mr. Waltz.

Late Thursday, as the controversy swirled, Mr. Trump summoned Mr. Waltz to the Oval Office. By the next morning, the president signaled to people around him that he was willing to stick with Mr. Waltz, three people with knowledge of the president’s thinking said.

People close to Mr. Trump say Mr. Waltz has been able to hang on in part because some in the administration still support him, and because Mr. Trump has wanted to avoid comparisons to the chaotic staffing of his first term, which had the highest turnover of top aides of any presidential administration in modern history.

And while Mr. Trump can always change his mind, the episode shows Mr. Trump’s willingness to disregard external pressures in his second term, while also grappling with the limits of the loyalty tests he imposed for staff across the administration.

Even before the Signal leak, Mr. Waltz was on shaky footing, viewed as too hawkish by some of the president’s advisers and too eager to advocate for military action against Iran when the president himself has made clear he prefers to make a deal.

An association with Mr. Goldberg, however hazy, gave Mr. Waltz’s opponents more fuel to feed the skepticism.

Some of Mr. Trump closest allies have questioned whether Mr. Waltz, a former George W. Bush administration official, was compatible with the president’s foreign policy. Mr. Waltz had gotten crosswise with Mr. Vance and Ms. Wiles in policy discussions, particularly regarding Iran, according to several people briefed on the matter.

In a statement, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Mr. Trump has a team whose members debate each other but know that he is the “ultimate decision maker.” “When he makes a decision, everyone rows in the same direction to execute,” she added.

Weeks ago, a discussion arose among some aides about whether Mr. Waltz was ideologically aligned with the president. Mr. Trump, who has at times been effusive in private about Mr. Waltz, made clear he did not want to start the cycle of dismissals so early in his second administration, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Mr. Trump, who regretted pushing out his first national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, after less than a month in 2017, believed it would feed a narrative that he engenders chaos.

After the Signal thread leaked, someone shared on X a snippet of a 2016 video of Mr. Waltz, produced by a group primarily funded by the billionaire Koch brothers. Speaking as a military veteran, Mr. Waltz looked directly into the camera as he condemned Mr. Trump as a draft-dodger and said, “Stop Trump now.” That snippet drew attention from Mr. Waltz’s critics.

By contrast, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s job appears to be safe, even though he shared detailed information about strike times for the attack on Houthi militants in Yemen in the Signal thread. MAGA stalwarts like Charlie Kirk have defended him online.

Mr. Hegseth “had nothing to do with this,” the president said on Wednesday.

Mr. Hegseth survived a bruising confirmation process in the Senate after being pushed through with help from Mr. Vance, and he has a solid relationship with Mr. Trump.

While Mr. Waltz may keep his job, the controversy has reminded Mr. Trump’s aides that the president’s strategy of crisis management — doubling down and denying, no matter how problematic the facts are — does not seem to work as well for them as it has over the years for Mr. Trump.

When the Atlantic story broke, Mr. Waltz denied meeting, knowing or communicating with Mr. Goldberg. But that claim was quickly called into question by photos that surfaced from a 2021 event at the French Embassy in Washington, where Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Waltz were pictured standing next to one another. Mr. Waltz’s allies dismissed the idea that the photo suggested the two men knew each other.

But the reality is that while Mr. Trump has demanded loyalty from his staff, some top officials are longtime Washington hands who have relationships, past experiences and contacts with people whom Mr. Trump despises.

“I would say the principle of getting a bunch of yes men and yes women around him is the guiding principle, a foundation of which is not having, or renouncing, any past that may be proof to the contrary,” said John R. Bolton, who worked as Mr. Trump’s third of four national security advisers and then wrote a revealing book about his time in the White House.

“Anybody who’s been around Washington 10 years, 15 years, has all kinds of backgrounds,” Mr. Bolton said.

In Greenland on Friday, Mr. Vance, who was traveling with Mr. Waltz on a visit to try to apply pressure for the United States to take over the territory, made clear that Mr. Waltz was at fault for adding Mr. Goldberg to the Signal thread.

But Mr. Vance, who was also in the group chat and has defended Mr. Waltz internally in the past, made a point of doing so again. It was a sign that Mr. Trump was ready to move on, for now.

“If you think you’re going to force the president of the United States to fire anybody, you’ve got another think coming,” he said. “President Trump has said it on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, and I’m the vice president saying it here on Friday, we are standing behind our entire national security team.”