Murdered Nashville headteacher ran TOWARDS trans shooter to protect her children
The Nashville school principal attacked on Monday by an ’emotionally disturbed’ former student ran towards the gunfire in an attempt to save her students, it has been claimed.
Dr. Katherine Koonce, the 60-year-old director, was found dead inside a hallway, which the Nashville police chief said indicated she had “a confrontation” with Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old transgender woman.
Hale fired a shot through the locked glass door at the entrance to The Covenant School at 10:13 a.m. Monday and the alarm was raised. Hale then began searching for victims, chosen at random, police said, and was seen on surveillance footage walking through the hallways, assault rifle in hand.
Russ Pulley, a Nashville city council member and former FBI agent, said Koonce tried to save his students.
Katherine Koonce, the school’s principal, was among those shot dead by Hale
“The director, Dr. Koonce, upon hearing the first shots, ran towards danger,” he wrote on Facebook.
“He also made sure the school was prepared with active shooter training and protocols. Those actions saved countless lives.
Pulley told Fox News Digital that Koonce was on a Zoom call when Hale barged in.
Russ Pulley, a Nashville city council member, said Koonce died protecting his students.
“I understand from a witness at the school that Katherine Koonce was on a Zoom call when she heard the first shot,” Pulley said.
He immediately ended the call, got up, and headed straight for the shooter.
‘She did what directors and directors do; she protected the children from her.
“In addition, she prepared the school by seeking advanced level active shooter training and from witnesses on the scene, this protocol, the details of which I cannot provide, saved countless lives.”
John Drake, the Nashville police chief, said Tuesday he had no doubt she moved toward danger, though he did not have precise details.
“There was a confrontation, I’m sure, it shows the way she was lying in the hallway,” Drake said.
The pastor of Koonce’s church, West End Community Church, paid tribute to his sacrifice.
“She gave her life in defense of the children in her care,” John Bourgeois said, in a note sent to church members.
Two other school employees, Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher, and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old janitor, were also killed in the shooting.
Three nine-year-old children were killed.
Hale’s LinkedIn profile suggested that they were now living like men. Police and Hale’s parents refer to the 28-year-old as “she,” but some online profiles suggest Hale went by “Aiden.”
Cynthia Peak (left, with her daughter Ellie) and Mike Hill, a custodian (right) were among those shot dead by Audrey Hale.
Hallie Scruggs is one of three nine-year-olds killed in Monday’s shooting. She is seen with her father Chad Scruggs, the pastor of the school’s affiliated Presbyterian church.
Tributes have poured in for a second victim, Will Kinney, (pictured), who was shot dead along with Hallie Scruggs and Evelyn Dieckhaus, all aged 9, in the massacre.
Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9, was one of the victims shot to death
Hill, the janitor, was shot dead when the shooter unleashed a barrage of bullets into the locked glass doors leading into the school, Drake said.
I don’t know the details yet. But I have a feeling that when it all comes out, Mike’s sacrifice saved lives,” said Tim Dunavant, pastor of Hartsville First United Methodist Church, who hired Hill at the Covenant School 13 years ago.
‘I have nothing factual to base that on. I only know what kind of man he was. And I know that he is the type of person who would do that.
An image of Hale is emerging as a deeply troubled young woman who was angry with her parents over her Christian upbringing.
Drake said there was “resentment” in the manifesto.
Hale’s parents, church coordinator Norma, 61, and her husband Ronald, 64, knew she had a gun at one point but told her to sell it because they thought she couldn’t be trusted.
Ronald and Norma Hale told police they didn’t know their daughter still had guns
Hale was identified from her car, parked at the school.
The 28-year-old shot through a locked door (pictured) to enter the school.
Debris from Hale’s forced entry into the school is shown. The 28-year-old shot through the locked school gate.
Instead, he hid his arsenal and expanded it, buying seven different weapons in all from five local stores.
Hale was being treated for an emotional disorder, the Nashville police chief said.
Chief Drake said: “The police knew nothing about the treatment, and clearly she shouldn’t have any weapons.”
Authorities also confirmed that Hale’s mother had asked her what was in a red backpack she was carrying the morning of the murders, but she dismissed her question.
Hale then brought three of his weapons to The Covenant School: two rifles and a pistol.
Two other guns were seen being taken from the house on Tuesday in video obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.
Drake said of her family: ‘They felt that she had a gun and that she had sold it. She was under doctors care for an emotional disorder.
“Her parents felt that she shouldn’t have guns, and they were under the impression that she no longer had any.
But he had been hiding several inside the house.