NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities said they believe the 28-year-old shooter who killed three children and three adults at a private Christian School in Nashville on Monday (March 27, 2023) was a former student

The violence at Covenant School, a Presbyterian school of about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, is the latest in a series of mass shootings in a country increasingly alarmed by the bloodshed in schools

The suspect - who was carrying two "assault" style rifles and a handgun - also died after being shot by police. Authorities said she was from the Nashville area. The motive for the attack has not been determined 

The killings come as communities across the country suffer a wave of school violence, including a 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 injured two administrators

President Joe Biden has again called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban in the wake of the Nashville shooting. "It's heartbreaking, the family's worst nightmare," he saidThe Covenant School Victims were declared dead at Monroe Carrell Jr. Children's Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center

 The Covenant School victims were declared dead at Monroe Carrell Jr. Children's Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. One of the officers was wounded in the hand by cutting glass.

Other students walked to safety on Monday, holding hands as they left their school surrounded by police cars, to a nearby church to be reunited with their parents.

"On a tragic morning, Nashville joined the long, frightening list of communities to experience a school shooting," Mayor John Cooper wrote on Twitter. “My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Our entire city stands with you.”

Josine Rodica heard police and fire engine sirens outside her nearby office building. When her building was closed, she pulled out her phone and recorded the chaos.