Metropolitan Nashville police Officer Rex Engelbert believed March 27 would be an average day at work, but by that afternoon, he had been declared a hero.
Engelbert was part of a team of officers that took down a shooter who had killed six people — including three children — inside The Covenant School.
At a news conference this week, Engelbert slowly and solemnly detailed the actions he took to help stop the shooter, identified by police as 28-year-old Audrey Hale. Hale died as a result of the shots fired by Engelbert and others.
After first offering condolences to the families of the victims, Engelbert said Tuesday that the day had started out as a “regular workday.” He hadn’t finished his coffee, he said, when he decided to go to the Metro Police Academy to complete some administrative tasks. While en route, passing through the department’s midtown sector, he received the call for service for an act of deadly aggression at a nearby school.
“I really had no business being where I was,” Engelbert said at the news conference. “You can call it fate or God or whatever you want, but I can’t count on both my hands the irregularities that put me in that position.”
Engelbert said he has responded to many false calls of active deadly aggression, but this one felt urgent. He said he immediately turned on his lights and siren, knowing “the severity of such a call.”
“I treat them all the same, but I was driving as safely as I could get my body there,” Engelbert said.
Engelbert, who was raised in Chicago, said he didn’t know the area, so he made his way to the school by GPS guidance. Once he arrived, a school staff member gave him a key to the building, which was on lockdown. With other police personnel on the scene, he opened the door to the school, clearing the hallway one room at a time until officers heard shots fired on the floor above.
Engelbert had never worked with the other officers on the scene, so the group used plain speak to communicate, he said. After hearing the shooting, he said, “I couldn’t get there fast enough.”
Engelbert said he drew his rifle and walked through smoke toward the sound of gunfire. To him, the incident felt similar to Police Department training. After the group fired on the shooter, he said, he knew “the work wasn’t over.”
He said he then began working with the team to escort children and teachers away from the school. At this point, Engelbert was relieved of duty and told to sit in his car.
“It was pretty difficult because I could tell there was more work to be done,” he said.
A four-year veteran of the Nashville Police Department, Engelbert grew up in Chicago’s Forest Glen neighborhood and graduated from the University of Dayton.
Others present at the news conference included Nashville police Chief John Drake, Detective Sgt. Jeff Mathes and Detective Michael Collazo.
Mathes said he’d never met Engelbert before he was called to respond to the shooting. In his office that day, Monday morning, he received a “Code 9000″ call — one for an active shooter. After arriving at the school, Mathes overheard Engelbert saying, “I need three.”
“To that point, I had never seen Rex in my life,” Mathes said. “He is not a man I that I have ever seen in a photo or ever met.”
Mathes said Engelbert opened the door for him, and they entered the building with one other officer. Not knowing the details of the situation, Mathes said they walked through the door “with purpose” and let their training guide them.
Drake opened the news conference by saying, “Last Monday was a day that we all hoped we’d never see anywhere, and especially here in Nashville. We’ve trained for incidents like this for years, with the thoughts that if it ever happened, we would not hesitate. We would go in and do whatever it is that was needed for the safety of those involved.”
Drake said the first responders “did what we were trained to do.”
“They formed together, they got prepared and went right in, knowing that every second, every moment wasted could cost lives.”
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