Hero Nashville cop who took down transgender school shooter is Marine Corps vet

The heroic cops who stopped a gunman from a Nashville transgender school are a Marine Corps veteran and award-winning officer.

Michael Collazo, 31, and Rex Engelbert, 27, of the Nashville Metro Police, were hailed as heroes after they shot 28-year-old Audrey Hale Monday after she shot and killed six at The Covenant School.

Hale opened fire shortly before 10:13 a.m. in the small, church-run private elementary school on the outskirts of town. Dramatic bodycam footage showed Englebert and Collazo shooting her dead at 10:27 a.m.

Collazo is a Marine Corps veteran who responded to the 2020 Christmas bombing, which also took place in Nashville, where Anthony Quinn Warner detonated a bomb downtown, killing himself and injuring eight others.

A nine-year veteran of the Corps, Collazo is also a former firefighter and has previously served as a SWAT team paramedic. He has a young daughter, according to Fox news.

Engelbert received a ‘precision police’ award last week for his work in recovering more than 20 stolen credit cards, a gun and fentanyl

Englebert (left) fired his rifle first, hitting her. Collazo then approached her body to dispose of weapons and checked on Monday whether gunman Audrey Hale was still alive

The Nashville native had joined the Marine Corps right out of high school and would have relied on his military training during the active shooter situation, his older sister Deanna Collazo DeHart told Fox News.

“He really loves his job. When I sit and think about all the workouts and all the different classes he’s doing, and all the family events he’s had to miss because of training or leaving to take this workout or this class…it all really pays off,” she said.

‘[He’s] obviously very brave, braver than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “It’s absolutely phenomenal to see how brave they all are as they storm and clear the rooms.”

Engelbert, a four-year veteran, was one of the first officers on the scene and deployed the precision shots that initially knocked Hale down. Officer Collazo, a nine-year veteran of the force, then approached with a pistol and fired four more shots as Hale swung to the ground, before approaching her body and disarming it.

Engelbert received a “precision police” award last week for his work in recovering more than 20 stolen credit cards, a gun and fentanyl, Fox News reported.

“These seizures have taken two high-risk felons with multiple outstanding arrests off the streets of downtown Nashville,” the Central Precinct said. “We are so grateful for their dedication to keeping our city safe.”

Hale is shown after being shot by police yesterday on the second floor of The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee

After shooting her dead, the officers approached Hale. Her weapons are clearly displayed along with what appears to be an armored vest

Hale was born female, but had recently started using he/him pronouns and the name “Aiden”

Experts praised the perfect precision of the responding officers and said the bodycam footage looks like a “training video.”

“Look at the moment when they heard shots. What did they say? “Shoots Fired! Shots Fired! Move! Move! Move!” They went faster. Guns first. They’re in there patting each other on the back. They go out of their way to encourage each other, knowing they’re putting themselves in danger, running to gunfire, to stop that gunman,” National Police Associated spokesman Betsy Brantner Smith told Fox News.

“The National Police Association is so incredibly proud of these police officers, and we are also proud of the other 750,000 officers who go out every day and do what these men and women did at the Nashville Police Department.”

From their arrival at the school at around 10:22 a.m., it took the officers five minutes to find Hale and kill her.

By then she had already managed to kill three nine-year-old children and three staff members.

Students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all nine, and staffers Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, both 61, and principal Katherine Koonce, 60, were killed.

The transgender shooter harbored a “resentment” that she had to go to school herself as a child.

Hale was believed to have lived as a transgender man named Aiden using he/him pronouns.

Hallie Scruggs, who died in the attack, is seen with her father Chad Scruggs, the pastor of the Presbyterian church affiliated with the school.

Will Kinney, (pictured) and Evelyn Dieckhaus, both nine, were shot dead on Monday. Dieckhaus’s family said she died trying to save her friends

Substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, (right) is shown with her daughter Ellie. Peak was one of six people shot to death on March 27, 2023 at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee

Katherine Koonce, principal of the school (left), and Mike Hill, a custodian (right) were among those shot dead by Audrey Hale

She shot and killed Headteacher Dr. Katherine Koonce down the hall in a “murder” style killing, in addition to shooting church custodian Mike Hill and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.

Hale also killed three nine-year-old students; Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney and Evelyn Dieckhaus.

It is unclear whether she was targeting those children or their class.

Before driving to the school, she sent a message on Instagram to a friend saying, “I plan to die today. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!

‘You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.

“This is my last goodbye. I love you. “See you in another life.”

“Audrey (Aiden).”