U.S. President Joe Biden has ordered the country’s flag to be flown at half-mast following the shooting at a private Christian grade school in Nashville, on Monday. The President who said this was to show respect for the victims in a White proclamation, describe the incident as “senseless. Three nine 9-year-olds and three adults were shot dead during the incident. They were named as Katherine Koonce, Mike Hill, Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and Cynthia Peak. “Flags should be flown at half-mast upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the federal government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its territories and possessions until sunset, March 31, 2023.
“I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including military facilities and naval vessels and stations,” Biden said.
Nashville police chief, John Drake, during a news conference on Tuesday said that the police had identified the apparent perpetrator of the shooting as a 28-year-old female, Audrey Hale, who was a transgender person believed to previously attend the school.
Drake said Hale had purchased sever firearms legally from five different stores prior to yesterday’s tragedy.
Police have spoken to Hale's family, Drake says, who told authorities Hale had been in treatment for an "emotional disorder".
"Her parents felt she should not own weapons, she had been hiding several weapons within the house," Drake said.
Investigators have yet to determine a motive in Monday's shooting.
At this time, investigators believe the school itself was targeted, police spokesperson Don Aaron said, though authorities have no evidence specific individuals were targeted.
"This school, this church building, was a target of the shooter, but we have no information at present to indicate that the shooter was specifically targeting any one of the six individuals who were murdered," Aaron said.
As police try to piece together what happened, the focus has once again turned to the politics of guns in America and who has the right to access them.
