Nashville and the rest of the country
grieving this morning less than4
hours after three nine year old students
and three staff members were gud
down inside an elementary schoo.
This morning we're getting our t
look at disturbing new surveille
video of the suspect, a former student,
shooting out the doors of the sl
just ahead of the killing spree.
Wake up Charlotte's Jay Gray isn
Nashville with the latest on the tragedy.
Well, good morning, Ben.
Good morning, Sarah.
The Covenant School is just behind us here.
It's a tightly Nick campus of about 200
kids from preschool through the 6th grade.
They were starting the week yesterday,
their last week before Easter vacation.
Now six families not planning
vacations but instead funerals. We're
under a mask, as you see.
Alert. Locked glass doors
shattered by gunfire.
A shooter crawling through the door frame,
stalking the hallways of the
Covenant school with what appeas
to be an assault style rifle.
Then minutes later,
the school shooting multiple victims down.
39 year olds and three staff mes
murdered as they were starting
their day at the Covenant Schoo.
It's disgusting and
I yeah. I just, I have no words.
Like I'm just trying to process it all. It's
so terrible, so sad.
Investigators say the 28 year old suspect
killed by officers as they rushed into
the building was a former stude.
There's some belief that there was some
resentment for having to go to that school
and that's why this incident occurred.
Nashville's police chief says Ay
Hale identifies his transgender.
That information part of a manio
uncovered by police who say the
school was not the only target
there was going to be.
Shootings at multiple locations.
And and the school was one of t.
There was actually a map of the school
detail and surveillance entry points.
Now this stunned, scared,
grieving community searches for
a map of how to move forward.
I mean there's not much
you can do as a teenager.
And I mean just someone like
just so small in this world and.
But I mean, I can pray and I
can bring flowers and I can
extend a hand of comfort,
comfort that is so desperately
needed here right now.
And a quick, closer look now at the school.
It sits alongside Covenant Presbyterian
Church, which is just up the hill here.
The enrollment is about 200 students.
Again, a very close group of families
all struggling right now in Nashville.
Jay Gray. Wake up, Charlotte. Of course
we understand this news tough for any
family, and it's difficult to uk
what happened with your kids. Sa
Murray is picking up our team coverage
with ways you can help try to talk to
your kids and make them feel sas
they head out to school today. .
That's right, yet another school
shooting has left families on E.
So for parents, we're sharing ws
to talk about this with your ki,
breaking it down to age group.
If you have elementary age kids and younger,
you'll want to keep these
explanations very short and balanced.
Parent experts say it might be telling your
young ones a bad person to hurt people,
and if your kids see any violent image,
try to counteract those negatives with
positives like how others stepped up to help.
For preteens, it's more about listening.
The conversation is about learng
what their feelings and values e
and can give you some insight ao
what kind of child you're raisi.
And for teenagers,
it's about looking for solution.
Parenting experts at teens.
Expect more,
and teaching them to be proactie
now can help them in the future.
Here's a local psychologist then
speaking on a school shooting lt
year about approaching the topi,
and they are going to
have some big questions.
But it's also really important
for parents to try to keep their
answers developmentally appropre
so that you don't get too much n
the weeds of details that the ks
are not really able to process.
And a question that I think a lf
parents are asking how young is too young?
To talk about this at all,
we were looking at some experts speaking
on the Today show who said any younger
than eight is probably inappropriate.
But even still, guys 8 years
old to be talking about this.
I mean, it's heartbreaking. Yea.
I mean, I don't talk about it wh
my 7 year old. But at the same ,
they do prepare for these things at school.
They come on the intercom and ty
know how to hide in the back ofe
room and lock the door and be q.
And it's so sad. It's that the d
world we're living in Kia. Thank you.
All right, we're going to have
much more on the reaction to the
shooting coming up in our next ,
but for the latest updates,
remember to download the WCNC Charlotte.