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A pediatric surgeon who left The Covenant School in Nashville moments before a shooter opened fire, killing six people, says she is horrified by the gun violence that has plagued the U.S.Britney Grayson had just finished regaling children at the small religious grade school about Kenya, where she works on missions, when she drove out of the parking lot looking for a Starbucks. Moments later, the shooter entered the school and opened fire, killing three children and three adults.After she received a text alerting her to the attack, Grayson took to Facebook to post about what she experienced, writing, “WHY ARE OUR CHILDREN BEING MASSACRED IN THEIR SCHOOLS?!”<blockquote>Dr. Grayson notes that even those who survived Monday's violence will be forever changed. She says the U.S. is laying the burden of gun violence at the feet of children.“Physically in the children that died, but also all of the children that were there today," she said. ”The counseling that’s going to be required and the way that this is going to affect their lives forever."</blockquote>The horror of what happened had Grayson rattled hours later.“It’s a weird feeling, knowing that just if it had happened just moments earlier, one, we might have been victims ourselves, and two, maybe I would have been there to offer immediate care,” she said.In her post, Grayson wrote that she has operated on a school shooting victim. But, she says, she has never felt as close to the violence as she did this time.“It’s different when you receive a patient at the hospital. I’m on my turf. I have all my skills and or tools with me and all of the team and everything,” she said. “That is definitely different than what we experienced today.”Grayson wrote on Facebook that the kids were great and learned about Kenya, some Swahili words and what it means to be a missionary.Later, when an initial death toll came out, she posted an update: “3 children are confirmed dead. 3 children who learned the word ‘Jambo’ this morning from us in chapel,” she wrote, using the Swahili greeting. “3 children who didn’t have to die. Lord be with us. Lord, be with us.”

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Children from The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., hold hands as they are taken to a reunification site at the Woodmont Baptist Church after a shooting at their school, on Monday March, 27, 2023. 

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“It’s a weird feeling, knowing that just if it had happened just moments earlier, one, we might have been victims ourselves, and two, maybe I would have been there to offer immediate care.”

"Lord, Be With Us” - Pediatric Doctor Outraged Over Violence, She Had Left The School Minutes Before

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday, armed with two “assault-style” weapons and a handgun after elaborately planning the massacre by drawing out a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building, police said.The massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville was the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country that has grown increasingly unnerved by bloodshed in schools.The victims included three 9-year-old children, the school’s top administrator, a substitute teacher and a custodian. Amid the chaos a familiar ritual played out: Panicked parents rushed to the school to see if their children were safe and tearfully hugged their kids, and a stunned community planned vigils for the victims.“I was literally moved to tears to see this and the kids as they were being ushered out of the building,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Monday during one of several news conferences.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52382.jpg" alt="A family departs the reunification center at the Woodmont Baptist church after a school shooting"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore] A family departs the reunification center at the Woodmont Baptist church after a school shooting</figcaption></figure>Police gave unclear information on the gender of the shooter. For hours, police identified the shooter as a 28-year-old woman and eventually identified the person as Audrey Hale. Then at a late afternoon press conference, the police chief said that Hale was transgender. After the news conference, police spokesperson Don Aaron declined to elaborate on how Hale currently identified.Drake did not give a specific motive when asked by reporters but gave chilling examples of the shooter’s prior planning for the targeted attack.“We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident,” he said. “We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.”The shooter gained entry by firing into glass doors on the building, shattering them, police later said in a tweet.The shooter was armed with two “assault-style” weapons as well as a handgun, authorities said. At least two of them were believed to have been obtained legally in the Nashville area, according to the chief.The victims were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old, and adults Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52383.jpg" alt="A woman kisses a child at the reunification center at the Woodmont Baptist church after a school shooting"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore] A woman kisses a child at the reunification center at the Woodmont Baptist church after a school shooting</figcaption></figure>The website of The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001, lists a Katherine Koonce as the head of the school. Her LinkedIn profile says she has led the school since July 2016. Peak was a substitute teacher and Hill was a custodian, according to investigators.Students held hands as they walked to school buses, which drove them to a nearby church to be reunited with their parents.Rachel Dibble, who was at the church as families found their children, described the scene as everyone being in “complete shock.”“People were involuntarily trembling,” said Dibble, whose children attend a different private school in Nashville. “The children … started their morning in their cute little uniforms, they probably had some Froot Loops and now their whole lives changed today.”Communities around the U.S. has suffered through one mass killing after another in recent years, with school shootings taking an especially painful toll.Recent tragedies nationwide include the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.President Joe Biden, speaking at the White House on Monday, called the shooting a “family’s worst nightmare” and implored Congress again to pass a ban on certain semi-automatic weapons.“It’s ripping at the soul of this nation, ripping at the very soul of this nation,” Biden said.Biden later ordered the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff on all federal buildings through March 31.Founded as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, The Covenant School is located in the affluent Green Hills neighborhood just south of downtown Nashville that is home to the famed Bluebird Café – a spot typically beloved by musicians and songwriters.The school has about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, as well as roughly 50 staff members.Before Monday’s violence in Nashville, there had been seven mass killings at K-12 schools since 2006 in which four or more people were killed within a 24-hour period, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. In all of them, the shooters were males.The database does not include school shootings in which fewer than four people were killed, which have become far more common in recent years. Just last week alone, for example, school shootings happened in Denver and the Dallas-area within two days of each other.Monday's tragedy unfolded over roughly 14 minutes. Police received the initial call about an active shooter at 10:13 a.m.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52384.jpg" alt="Women speak at the reunification center at the Woodmont Baptist church after school shooting"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore] Women speak at the reunification center at the Woodmont Baptist church after school shooting</figcaption></figure>Officers began clearing the first story of the school when they heard gunshots coming from the second level, Aaron said during a news briefing.Two officers from a five-member team opened fire in response, fatally shooting the suspect at 10:27 a.m., Aaron said. One officer had a hand wound from cut glass.Aaron said there were no police officers present or assigned to the school at the time of the shooting because it is a church-run school.Jozen Reodica heard the police sirens and fire trucks blaring from outside her office building nearby. As her building was placed under lockdown, she took out her phone and recorded the chaos.“I thought I would just see this on TV,” she said. “And right now, it’s real.”<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52381.jpg" alt="A man walks with children at the Woodmont Baptist Church after a school shooting at The Covenant School"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore] A man walks with children at the Woodmont Baptist Church after a school shooting at The Covenant School</figcaption></figure>Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Kristin Hall in Nashville; Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles; and Beatrice Dupuy and Larry Fenn in New York; as well as AP researchers Randy Herschaft and Rhonda Shafner in New York.

nashville-school-attacker-had-maps-manifesto-3-childrens-lives-taken-along-with-3-school-employees

A police chaplain stands by as children from The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., are taken to a reunification site at the Woodmont Baptist Church 

There were no police officers present or assigned to the school at the time of the shooting because it is a church-run school.

Nashville School Attacker Had Maps, Manifesto - 3 Children's Lives Taken Along With 3 School Employees

East Palestine, Oh. (by Billie Wright) - John Heading and his team at the Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief rushed in after a train carrying a toxic chemical derailed in East Palestine, Ohio in February. John says even though there were initial concerns about the safety of teams coming into the area to help, he made sure of it.<blockquote>“We have our own toxicologist that we refer to...He said that, ‘You’re absolutely going to be safe helping folks in their homes.’”</blockquote>Once the area was deemed safe, John says they went to work, scrubbing walls, floors…anything to help the people near the accident.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52339.jpg" alt="Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team cleaning homes in East Palestine, Ohio"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ]</figcaption></figure>John connects with residents by asking a simple question: 'How ya doin'?' He says people really open up and share the stresses they've recently gone through. He explains how sharing faith during that time is something that comes natural to him, as a former pastor.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52340.png" alt="John Heading"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ]</figcaption></figure>“It’s important to us as believers to be able to walk alongside people who are stressed, they’re in the middle of crisis, they really don’t know what to do. But to show them there really is hope in Christ, as you walk this journey. It’s important for us to do that, wherever we go.”&nbsp;The volunteer team at the Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief are trained and ready to jump in during difficult times.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52341.jpg" alt="Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief cleaning homes"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Ohio Southern Baptist Disaster Relief]</figcaption></figure>Hear more from John here:<figure class="media"><oembed url="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/52342.mp3"></oembed></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;

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