Nashville school staff were ‘packing’ guns, 911 caller said
At least one staffer at the Nashville Christian school where six people were gunned down this week is usually armed for pupils’ security, according to a teacher who called 911 begging for help.
“We do have a school person — or two, I’m not sure — who would be packing, whose job it is for security,” one woman told a dispatcher while cowering under a desk during Monday’s rampage at the Covenant School.
“We don’t have security guards, but we have a staff.”
The 911 call — one of about two dozen made during the terrifying 14-minute bloodbath — was the first suggestion that staff at the Christian school may have been armed.
It challenges pro-gun activists who claim allowing teachers to carry is an easy recipe to end such violence.
“You know, there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) claimed in a war of words on the House floor Wednesday about the Nashville carnage.
He repeated the seemingly disproven fact later on Twitter, writing: “There’s never been a school shooting in the hundreds of schools that allow staff to carry.”
A school spokesperson would not comment on who might have been armed for security. A spokesperson for Metro Nashville Police said she was unable to confirm if any staff had been armed at the time.
Citing the ongoing investigation, the police rep also could not tell The Post if any of the three staff who were killed had attempted to shoot at heavily armed 28-year-old transgender shooter Audrey Hale, a former pupil there.
Previous reports said at least one of the three slain adults, 60-year-old headmaster Katherine Koonce, was gunned down while rushing to confront Hale.
“She did what principals and headmasters do: She protected her children,” Nashville City Councilman Russ Pulley, an ex-FBI agent, told Fox News.
Friends also believe school custodian Mike Hill, a 61-year-old dad of eight, likely sacrificed himself to try to protect the students.
“Mike deserves to be remembered for his selfless act protecting our children,” said a GoFundMe — which by Friday had raised more than $575,000, more than 23 times its $25,000 target.
Evelyn Diekhaus — one of the three 9-year-old students also killed, along with William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs — is thought to have ben trying to lead others to safety when she was shot dead. Her funeral Friday was the first planned for the six victims.
Scruggs, meanwhile, was the daughter of the church’s lead pastor, Chad Scruggs — who was heard in one of the harrowing 911 calls released late Thursday.
“I’m getting calls from the inside,” he told the dispatcher, saying he planned to make his way toward the gunshots.
“We are sending the cavalry, trust me,” a dispatcher assured one caller — with astonishing bodycam footage showing the actions of responding officers who ran toward the gunshots and quickly shot her, ending Hale’s rampage.
Police have yet to detail the killer’s motive, which was detailed in a manifesto that has yet to be released.
With Post wires