Catholics in Nashville, Tennessee joined their neighbours in mourning the victims of a mass shooting at the Covenant School, a private Presbyterian school in the city's Green Hills neighbourhood.
Three adults and three nine-year-old children were killed in the attack on 27 March, one of Tennessee's deadliest school shootings.
A former pupil at the school, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, used a semi-automatic handgun and two short barrel, magazine-fed military-style semi-automatic weapons to shoot her way into the school building and gun down the victims before police rushed Hale and killed her 14 minutes later.
According to police, Hale had a detailed map of the school building and left a manifesto explaining her actions. The contents of the manifesto have not been released, and police are reportedly still investigating a possible motive.
“My heart breaks with news of the school shooting at the Covenant School this morning,” Bishop J Mark Spalding of Nashville said in a social media post. “Let us pray for the victims, their families and the Covenant Presbyterian community.”
Spalding celebrated a Mass on the night of the shootings at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, to pray for the victims and their families.
Diocesan chancellor Brian Cooper also explained the training undertaken at Catholic schools in the area to protect against the threat of school shootings.
“Within the last five years, the diocese has conducted multiple comprehensive security reviews of each school and adjacent parish grounds,” he told Our Sunday Visitor.
“We have taken significant steps to continually enhance the security of our facilities in cooperation with parish leaders.”
In the wake of the attack, President Joe Biden renewed his call for a ban on the sale of assault weapons such as those used by Hale. Catholic bishops across the US have supported efforts to restrict access to powerful firearms.
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