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Follow the New York Post’s live coverage of Monday’s shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, which killed seven people, including three children. 

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Fundraiser for slain Nashville school custodian ‘Big Mike’ Hill raises more than $350K in one day, 14 times target

By Lee Brown

A fundraiser for slain Nashville school custodian Mike Hill, a father of 8 affectionately known as “Big Mike,” has collected more than $350,000 in just one day — over 14 times its goal.

“Mike, thank you for protecting Nashville’s children,” said the verified GoFundMe appeal set up by Nashville parents “dedicated to honoring this hero.”

The fundraiser said Hill “was the beloved father of eight children” and “‘Big Mike’ to his students, who will surely feel his loss in the years to come.”
The fundraiser said Hill “was the beloved father of eight children” and “‘Big Mike’ to his students, who will surely feel his loss in the years to come.” Covenant Presbyterian Church
Hill’s large family “has been beyond moved by the outpouring of love,” the fundraiser said.
Hill’s large family “has been beyond moved by the outpouring of love,” the fundraiser said. Courtesy of family
Hill was one of six gunned down, including two other staffers and three 9-year-old students.
Hill was one of six gunned down, including two other staffers and three 9-year-old students. AP

“Mike deserves to be remembered for his selfless act protecting our children,” it said of the 61-year-old custodian who was one of three school staffers gunned down alongside three 9-year-old students.

“Mike was the beloved father of eight children. More notably, he was ‘Big Mike’ to his students, who will surely feel his loss in the years to come,” wrote organizer Anne Puricelli.

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Nashville school shooting victims remembered by loved ones, friends at vigils

By David Propper
Pastor Paul Purdue embraces a woman during a community vigil at Belmont United Methodist Church in the aftermath of school shooting in Nashville, Monday.
Pastor Paul Purdue embraces a woman during a community vigil at Belmont United Methodist Church in the aftermath of the school shooting in Nashville. AP

The head of The Covenant School would run toward danger. The school custodian, dubbed “Big Mike,” would sacrifice for others. And one of the young victims was a “shining light” for the world.

Those memories and touching words were among many from friends and family mourning the deaths of three 9-year-old students and three school staffers killed inside a Nashville private school Monday by deranged shooter Audrey Hale.

Vigils were held in the aftermath of the shooting Monday and Tuesday nights with a citywide vigil planned for Wednesday evening, according to the Tennessean.

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Wife of TN Gov. Bill Lee was best friends with Nashville shooting victim

By Allie Griffin
Gov. Bill Lee said his wife was close friends with two of the Nashville shooting victims. GovBillLee/Twitter

The substitute teacher killed in Monday’s school shooting in Nashville was revealed to be “best friends” with Tennessee’s first lady Maria Lee — and the two even had plans to dine together that night.

Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday shared the connection between his wife, a fellow educator, and Cynthia Peak, the 61-year-old who was among six people gunned down by a crazed shooter inside The Covenant School.

“Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends, Cindy Peak,” the governor said in a video posted to Twitter. “Cindy was supposed to come over to have dinner with Maria last night after she filled in as a substitute teacher yesterday at Covenant.”

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Biden jokes he doesn’t believe Christians were targeted in Nashville shooting if Sen. Hawley does 

By Victor Nava

President Biden laughed off a question from a reporter on Tuesday about whether the transgender shooter at a Christian elementary school in Nashville was targeting people of faith. 

“I have no idea,” Biden, 80, told the media assembled outside the White House on Tuesday when asked if Monday’s deadly shooting rampage that claimed the lives of three children and three adults at The Covenant School in Tennessee was an attack targeting Christians. 

When told that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) believed that the attack did target Christian believers, Biden’s response raised eyebrows.

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Photos give inside look at house where Audrey Hale stockpiled guns before Nashville shooting

By Allie Griffin

Photos obtained by The Post offer an exclusive glimpse into the home where the Nashville school shooter lived and stockpiled guns — including the ones used to kill three children and three adults Monday.

The images show a typical family home with red tulips popping up in the front yard, school portraits framed on a credenza, a wind chime with a cascade of crosses hanging in a window and a child’s bike propped against an exterior wall.

But police said the brick, Tudor-style house is where the mass shooter identified as Audrey Hale hid a cache of seven guns from her parents, the homeowners.

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Nashville school shooter's 14-minute timeline of terror

By Stephanie Pagones

Only 14 minutes passed between the alarm being raised for an active shooter targeting The Covenant elementary school in Nashville, Tenn. and the assailant being killed in a hail of bullets by two police officers.

But in that time Audrey Hale — a 28-year-old transgender former student of the private Christian school – unleashed complete chaos, leaving three 9-year-old students and three employees dead.

Twisted Hale, who had started using he/him pronouns in online profiles, had sat in her car in the parking lot of the school and sent messages about the act she was about to commit to a friend.

“I’m planning to die today … You’ll probably hear about me on the news,” Hale wrote to a former classmate.

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Audrey Hale’s parents 'couldn’t accept' their daughter's trans identity: report

By Stephanie Pagones

Nashville shooter Audrey Hale's parents "couldn't accept" their 28-year-old daughter's transgender, gay lifestyle, according to a report.

The Daily Mail reported that Hale's strict Christian parents, Norma, 61, and 64-year-old Ronald, struggled to come to terms with their daughter's gender identity and sexuality.

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake recently announced Hale was transgender. He said police were investigating whether Hale being transgender played a role in her decision to target the private Christian elementary school.

Audrey Hale
Audrey Hale killed sex people at a Nashville Christian school on Monday morning. Linkedin/Audrey Hale

Hale, who also went by the name "Aiden" and used he/him pronouns, would reportedly change clothes after leaving the family home where she lived.

"You only see what you want to see," a source told the Mail. "Their religion does not allow them to accept homosexuality.'

Hale's mother works as coordinator of Volunteers and Meals Team at The Village Chapel, a church based in Nashville.

Mass shooting in Nashville reignites gun debate

By Mark Moore

​The massacre of six people, including three 9-​year-olds​, at a Nashville elementary school ​Monday ​has rekindled the intractable political debate on gun control — prompting some Democrats ​to push for gun reform in the Republican-controlled House. 

President Biden — who called for Congress to enact an assault weapons ban in the wake of Monday’s shooting — admitted Tuesday that he has​ exhausted all executive ​options while pleading with Congress.

The flag flies at half-staff at the White House in Washington.
The flag flies at half-staff at the White House in Washington. AP

“I have ​gone the full extent of my executive authority to do on my own anything about guns. The Congress has to act,” Biden told reporters as he left the White House on a trip to North Carolina.

“The majority of the American people think having assault weapons is bizarre, it’s a crazy idea. They’re against that. And so I think the Congress could be passing an assault weapon​s​ban,” he said.

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Nashville victim William Kinney, 9, pictured smiling on GoFundMe page

By Olivia Land

A photo of the third child killed in the shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville on Monday has been shared in a GoFundMe started for his family.

William Kinney, 9, died alongside his classmates Hallie Scruggs and Evelyn Dieckhaus, both also 9, in the Monday morning rampage that left seven people dead, including the shooter.

In the photo shared with the GoFundMe established for Kinney’s family, William is pictured smiling in matching green t-shirts with two other children, whose faces are obscured with pink hearts.

William Kinney
William Kinney, 9, was one of three students killed during the mass shooting. GoFundMe

“Will had an unflappable spirit. He was unfailingly kind, gentle when the situation called for it, quick to laugh, and always inclusive of others,” Rachael Freitas wrote.

“Sweet Will knew no strangers, and our hearts [are] broken for his family as they try to find their way forward.”

Within 7 hours, the GoFundMe raised over $39,000 of its $50,000 goal.

Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles slammed for gun-filled family Christmas photo

By Stephanie Pagones

A Tennessee congressman who reps the district where six people were killed in a school shooting Monday is under fire over a family Christmas photo showing him and kin proudly holding assault rifles.

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles, his wife and two of their three kids posed with the weapons as they stood in front of a decorated Christmas tree and smiled for the camera in 2021.

The wife and daughter held assault rifles, a particularly deadly weapon that Monday’s killer, Audrey Hale, toted during her Nashville rampage.

Ogles represents Tennessee’s 5th District, which includes Nashville.

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Audrey Hale's parents saw her leave home with suspicious 'red bag' before shooting: cops

By Olivia Land

Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale’s parents saw her leave home with a suspicious red bag before the deadly rampage at The Covenant School on Monday, police said.

"They asked her what was in the red bag and I think she just dismissed it because it was a motherly thing," Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a news conference Tuesday. "And didn't look in the bag because at the time she didn't know that her daughter had any weapons and didn't think any differently."

Hale – who also went by the name Aiden – subsequently gunned down six people, including three children, at The Covenant School on Monday morning before being shot dead by police.

Audrey Hale
Audrey Hale killed six people at a Nashville Christian school on Monday morning. Linkedin/Audrey Hale
One of the weapons used at The Convenant School shooting.
One of the weapons used at The Convenant School shooting. via REUTERS

Drake insisted Tuesday that, had police known that Hale, 28, was a danger to themselves or others, police would have intervened.

"There's not a law for that but had if it been reported that she was suicidal or that she was going to kill someone and had it been made known to us, then we would've tried to, to get those weapons," he said, referring to the cache of legally-bought guns Hale kept hidden from their parents. 

"But as it stands, we had absolutely no idea, actually who this person was, if she even existed."

Nashville Police Chief John Drake at an outdoor press conference.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake addressed the public on Tuesday. Reuters
Hale, right, pictured with their mother, Norma, and brother, Scott.
Hale, right, pictured with their mother, Norma, and brother, Scott.

Drake also confirmed that Hale, who previously attended The Covenant School, was under a doctor’s care for an “emotional disorder” at the time of the shooting.

Cops seen removing more guns from Nashville shooter Audrey Hale’s home

By Olivia Land

Investigators were spotted removing additional guns from the home of Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale in the wake of the massacre Monday,

In video obtained by The Daily Mail, officers can be seen carrying two weapons from the home after Hale, 28, was shot dead by police mid-rampage at The Covenant School on Monday morning.

Hale, a former student at The Covenant School, barged into the building around 10 a.m. armed with two rifles and a handgun, which were later recovered by law enforcement.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake stated that Hale legally purchased the guns.

Neighbor Sandy Durham told The Daily Mail that there were “no warning signs” of Hale’s attack, which police say was carefully planned.

“Never. She was very sweet. I don’t know what happened. It’s very scary,” she said.

Minutes before the shooting, Hale – who also used the name Aiden – sent a chilling message to a friend that she was “planning to die.”

Authorities investigate a home possibly connected to the school shooting in Nashville, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn
Nashville Police Chief John Drake stated that Hale legally purchased the guns. AP

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Hale should not have had the legally-purchased weapons because they were being treated for an “emotional disorder.”

The motive for Hale’s attack remains unclear, though Drake indicated on Monday that “resentment” may have played a role in the tragedy.

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