Gunman kills six people at US school – three children among victims

Three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday. The alleged gunman was shot by police officers, the Nashville police said. “We know she was armed with at least two assault rifles and one handgun,” police officer Don Aaron said at a news conference. Police said on Facebook a short time later that it was a 28-year-old woman from Nashville.

Police were alerted to the school around 10 a.m. (local time). “When officers got to the second floor, they saw a gunman, a woman, shooting,” Aaron said. The cops shot them. According to initial findings, she gained access to the school through a side entrance. It was initially unclear if she had any connection to the facility. According to the police, the three killed were school employees.

The school is said to be a private Christian institution. According to the website, children are taught there from first to sixth grade. There is also a kindergarten there. According to the local newspaper The Tennessean, about 200 children go there. A mother told American television that her daughter wrote to her that she and her classmates had been hiding in the closet during the incident. Nashville is the capital of the state of Tennessee – it is home to almost 700,000 people.

US First Lady Jill Biden, who is a teacher herself, was horrified. “I really have no words for words. Our children deserve better,” she said in Washington. “We are united with Nashville in prayer.”

Runaways and shootings are part of sad everyday life in the US – the perpetrators are mostly men. In recent years, there have only been isolated cases of female gunmen causing massacres.

There are more guns in circulation in the United States than anywhere else in the world. According to the latest data from the CDC, about 20,000 people were shot dead in the United States in 2020 — more than 50 a day. For the first time in 2020, gun injuries were the number one cause of death in the United States, ahead of traffic accidents. In May, an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, before being shot dead by police.

U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called for stricter gun laws and has repeatedly tightened regulations slightly in the past. However, without substantial legislative changes, experts see no chance of real change. To push this through, however, Biden and his Democrats would have to rely on the willingness of Republicans in Congress to cooperate — and that’s not in sight at this point.

After Monday’s shooting at a Nashville school, the White House pushed for tougher gun laws. “How many more children have to be killed before Republicans in Congress stand up and take action?” US government spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in Washington. The US parliament urgently needs to pass an assault rifle ban and close background check loopholes for gun buyers.

“Enough is enough,” she warned. “We need to do more.” Joe Biden has done more than any other president to address gun violence in the country. But now Congress must act urgently. “Our children must be able to feel safe at school,” says Jean-Pierre. Attacks like the one in Nashville are “devastating” and “heartbreaking”. (sda/dpa)