Shooting at a Nashville school: Attacker's home is searched by police for guns.

At a school in Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States, an ex-student shot and killed three adults and three children.

The Covenant School, a private Christian school for students aged three to 11, was the location of the attack.

All three of the deceased students were nine years old.

According to the police, the suspect entered the school by shooting through a door. Officers seized additional firearms during a home search.

Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney have been identified as the child victims.

Mike Hill, 61, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60, were identified as the adult victims.

Officers stated that Audrey Hale, 28 years old, has been identified as the suspect.

Police initially described the attacker as a woman, but later stated that Hale identified as transgender, causing some confusion regarding Hale's gender identity.

According to a spokesperson for the police, Hale "is a biological woman who, on a social media profile, used male pronouns," according to the Washington Post.

Police shot and killed the shooter, who had three guns, one of which was a semi-automatic rifle.

They had left a manifesto and a detailed map of the school, complete with entrances, on the ground. Police are currently concentrating on those records.

Hale was a former student of the school and had no criminal record. According to the officers, "resentment" may have been a motive. On Monday, at 10:13 local time (13:13 GMT), the first call about the incident was made to the police.

The offender drove to the school and entered by firing through one of the locked doors.

Hale enters the school by shattering the glass panes on the front doors with a gun and then wanders the empty corridors, passing a room marked "Children's Ministry" at one point. This footage was later released by Nashville police.

Hale is seen in the CCTV footage with what appears to be a protective vest on, an assault-style rifle in one hand, and a second weapon of a similar design hanging from his left hip.

Police said Hale opened fire on the ground floor before moving up. A search of a nearby parked car led them to "firmly believe" Hale was a former school student.

During a search of a nearby house that was listed as the shooter's address, police spoke with the attacker's father.

According to Nashville Police Chief John Drake, investigators discovered a manifesto and "a map of how all of this was going to play out," which included the school building's entry and exit points.

Additionally, he claimed that the assailant had planned the attack while conducting surveillance.

In addition to the weapons used in the attack, additional weapons, including a sawed-off shotgun and a second shotgun, were discovered during a search of the shooter's residence.

Sound's mom, Norma Robust, told ABC News: " Before requesting privacy, "it is very, very difficult right now." Covenant School is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It is in the posh Green Hills neighborhood, south of downtown Nashville.

"Our community is heartbroken," the school said in a statement.

"We are in shock after the terror that shattered our school and church and are grieving a tremendous loss."

One student's mother claimed that her son had been traumatized. Shaundelle Brooks told BBC News, "I think he's doing better now that he knows that the shooter is dead."

She continued, "These are conversations we shouldn't be having." Our children are failing us."

A memorial service for the victims was held at the nearby Woodmont Christian Church just hours after the shooting.

According to the Tennessean, a local publication, senior minister Clay Stauffer said with tears that Evelyn Dieckhaus's 11-year-old sister had plans to be baptized in a few weeks.

When Evelyn's sister said, "I don't want to be an only child," she broke down in tears.

The shooting was dubbed "the family's worst nightmare" by President Joe Biden.

He reiterated his call for stricter gun control laws and stated, "We have to do more to stop gun violence." It is tearing our communities apart and destroying this nation's very soul."

Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit that keeps track of data on gun violence, says that the attack was the 129th mass shooting in 2023 in the United States.

Up until the end of last week, there had been 12 school shootings in the United States this year, according to data compiled by Education Week. These shootings either killed or injured students.