A former middle school basketball teammate of theNashville school shootersays she received alarming messages from the assailant beforeMonday’s attack. The ex-teammate called authorities, but said she was placed on hold while the shooting unfolded, according to reports.
“One day this will make more sense,” the shooter added. “I’ve left more than enough evidence behind. But something bad is about to happen.”
Patton told News Channel 5 that she tried to comfort her former teammate and contacted the Suicide Prevention Help Line at about 10:08 a.m. By 10:13 — when the first calls came in reporting the shooting at the Covenant School to authorities — Patton had contacted the Nashville Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and had been told to call Nashville’s non-emergency line.
Patton told the outlet: “I called Nashville’s non-emergency line at 10:14 a.m. and was on hold for nearly seven minutes before speaking with someone who said that they would send an officer to my home. An officer did not come to my home until 3:29 p.m.”
Shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, USA.HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Patton told CNN’s Don Lemonthat she’s not sure why the shooter reached out to her.
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The gender of the assailant is unclear. Police initially referred to the shooter as a female, and then said the assailant identifies as transgender.CNN reportsa police spokesperson told the station Hale used male pronouns on a social media profile.
Prior to identifying the shooter, police announced that thevictimswere Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9, Hallie Scruggs, 9, William Kinney, 9, Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.
According to statistics from theGun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, regardless of the number of fatalities, there were 128 mass shootings in 2023 as of Monday morning.
How to help
You can donate to the families of the victims through theThe Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.ViVEandVictimsFirsthave also created GoFundMe pages for donations. Both fundraisers are verified.
source: people.com
