Josh Brolin was among the first celebrities to react to the news of the fatal shooting at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday (27 March).
28-year-old shooter Audrey Hale was killed at the scene by police officers who were called to the city’s Covenant School, officials say.
The former student at the school killed three children (all roughly aged nine) and three adults.
Brolin took to Instagram to plead for increased gun control laws in the country.
“ENOUGH!!!!!! Whether you’re a ‘It’s the people not the guns’ or a ‘It’s the guns, not the people’ to say that our country is actively doing anything in its power to help avert this absolute random slaughter of our children, categorizes you in either total denial or living some fantasy of ambush that should render you unfit to take care of yourself or others,” the No Country for Old Men star wrote.
He continued: “I thought all bets were off when children became targets. Whether peadophiles or shooters, end it f***ing now no matter what psychological/sociological manipulative spin any corporation puts on it.
“Make our country great again by having some people [with] balls reinstated into the ‘By the people, For the people’ system that was intended and has literally been bought out. F*** you, America, for not protecting your children.”
Hale was armed with two assault-style firearms and a handgun when she broke into the building through a side door, police said.
“It’s hearbtreaking,” US president Joe Biden said during an event on Monday. “A family’s worst nightmare.”
“We have to do more to stop gun violence,” he added. “It’s ripping our communities apart. It’s ripping at the very soul of the nation. We have to do more to protect our schools so they aren’t turned into prisons.”
The Independent’s live coverage of the shooting can be found here.
