A woman who says she survived the 2022 Highland Park shooting, where a gunman killed seven and wounded many more, was present on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, at the scene of a school shooting that left six dead.
“Aren’t you guys tired of covering this. Aren’t you guys tired of being here and having to cover all of these mass shootings,” the woman said, approaching news cameras.
“How is this still happening?” she continued. “How are our children still dying, and why are we failing them? Gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens. It has overtaken cars.”
The woman said she had been lobbying lawmakers in Washington since the Highland Park shooting, where Robert Crimo III allegedly used an assault rifle to kill seven people and wound scores of others during a 4th of July parade.
“These mass shootings will continue to happen until our lawmakers step up and pass gun safety legislation,” the activist continued, adding, “We can’t even pass safe storage laws to protect kids from getting a hold of weapons that they shoot each other with.”
At 10.13am CT, Nashville police were called to the The Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school, on reports of an active shooter.
Police have identified the suspected shooter by their name at birth, Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
Police have identified the suspected shooter by their name at birth; Hale reportedly was a transgender man who used he/him pronouns, though law enforcement officials initially described the suspect as a woman in the aftermath of the shooting. Police did not provide another name but on the suspect’s social media accounts they refer to themselves as Aiden.
A team of five officers encountered the Nashville native, who was armed with two assault-style weapons and a handgun, and fatally shot the 28-year-old.
The shooter killed three children and three adults before police arrived.
More than one mass shooting per day has occurred in the US in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.
The shooting in Nashville is the fifth school shooting in the area since 2011, The Tennessean reports.
The Highland Park survivor wasn’t the only one calling for stronger gun laws after the shooting.
A gun safety advocate highlighted Tennessee’s Republican governor signing open carry legislation after the mass shooting at the school.
Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, which advocates for gun safety, criticised Governnor Bill Lee for not initially putting out a statement after the shooting at Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville. Metro Nashillve Police Department officers shot and killed the suspect.
“Tennessee @GovBillLee hasn’t had time yet to tweet his thoughts and prayers for Covenant School, but when he does, remind him that this is exactly why police and citizens opposed the permitless carry bill he signed into law at a gun maker’s factory in 2021,” Ms Watts tweeted.
