Nashville Covenant School shooting: Song, prayer, honks as human chain spreads 'hope'
It has been a year since three students and three staff members — 9-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, headmaster Katherine Koonce, custodian Mike Hill and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak — at the Covenant School were gunned down in a mass shooting.
There have been vigils, rallies and cries for stricter gun control. Two legislators were expelled, and ultimately reappointed, for their protests on the House floor. And despite a special session, no major action was taken on gun control in Tennessee.
Community members are are still calling for change a year later.
Follow for updates as Nashville remembers the six victims.
More:In a dark year, how a local church gave the Covenant School hope: ‘A beacon in our valley’
Surreal day for Covenant family activist
Activist mom Sarah Shoop Neumann, co-founder of Covenant Families for Brighter Tomorrows, whose child was 5 years old at the time of the shooting, was at the event to show support for families.
Neumann said the past year has been challenging, but this past Monday was the hardest as she was at the state Capitol to support a bill that would push for some change. She reflected on where she was a year ago before the shooting.
“A year ago at that time I was planning to take my kids to see the Easter Bunny and I thought, wow, now a year later I’m here at the Capitol. It’s surreal,” she said.
— Kelly Puente, The Tennessean
Human chain event draws crowds
More than 300 people gathered in Centennial Park, surrounding a stage and linking arms along West End Avenue.
The crowd took a moment of silence for the six Covenant School shooting victims, while faith leaders spoke of the importance of hope.
A member of Voices for a Safer Tennessee read a short statement from a young family member of one of the victims. The family member said they have been in a dark place, but they are inspired to move forward.
“Hope is joy. Hope is love. Hope is a shining light.”
At 5:15 p.m., the crowd dressed in red and black linked arms in a vast line that a circled through the park and stretched down West End Avenue as cars honked in support.
Guitarist Grace Bowers played “This Little Light of Mine” as Davidson County Court Judge Shelia Calloway sang the lyrics. Many Covenant families were there to show support as well as Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville), who chatted with parents and children as the song, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” played in the background.
— Kelly Puente, The Tennessean
Lawmakers remember Covenant while approving bill to commit mentally deficient felony defendants
Lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would require felony defendants found mentally incompetent in court to be committed and barred from owning or possessing guns.
“We stand here one year removed from when six of our citizens were killed by an insane individual that stepped into a school bent on evil,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, told the House Finance Subcommittee on Wednesday.
House Bill 1640 is named after another shooting victim, Belmont student Jillian Ludwig, who was killed in November by a stray bullet on an afternoon walk at a Nashville park near campus. If passed, it would require felony defendants determined by a court as mentally incapable of assisting with their own defense to be immediately committed to a mental institution.
“[Jillian Ludwig] is in the grave right now because a person who was incompetent to assist in his own defense was charged with felonies in a court a couple hundred yards from here, and everybody in that courtroom knew that that individual was dangerous – everybody – and they just watched him walk out the door because our laws are not strong enough," Lamberth said.
Members of the House Finance Subcommittee unanimously passed the bill on Wednesday, after Gov. Bill Lee included full funding for the legislation in his budget amendment this week.
“It’s a year after Covenant,” Lamberth said. “I hope it’s one of a whole bunch of bills that get passed in this chamber that, one step at a time, we make sure that there are no more Covenants, no more Jillian Ludwigs that lose their lives, no other families that have to go through this type of hell.”
The bill now goes to the full House Finance Committee. Companion legislation is in a similar position in the Senate
— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean
One year later, the same song applies
Ketch Secor hoped last year that the Covenant School shooting would be “the last nail in this coffin of school shootings, of mass murder with rapid fire weapons of a military type grade,” but the hope he saw quickly dissipated.
The singer from Old Crow Medicine Show will perform the song again this year.
“It's a different time now in the movement a year later, and there's a hardened resolve that we are in a multi-year, multi-decade effort to keep our kids safe. And we’ve got to be committed this year, next year and for 25 years, to see the kinds of change that I think are really coming,” he continued.
“Music is healing, and restorative,” Secor said. “But even more than that, music is a call to action.”
A year ago, he sang his version of the country-folk song, originally a hymn reworked by the Carter Family in 1964 called “Can The Circle be Unbroken (By and By),” at the Nashville Remembers vigil on March 29 last year.
Last year’s vigil, which took place in Public Square Park, was attended by hundreds of Nashvillians and First Lady Jill Biden.
The lyrics go: “Will the circle be unbroken / By and by, Lord, by and by / There’s a better home a-waiting / In the sky, Lord, in the sky.”
“What was striking about singing ‘Will the Circle be Unbroken,’ the crowd was almost overwhelmingly out of town journalists,” Secor told The Tennessean about performing at last year’s vigil.
“And they came, they saw, they filmed, but then they all split,” he continued.
— Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean
Music schedule for today's Covenant School remembrance event
At today’s Linking Arms for Change event, Nashville musicians, speakers and religious leaders will gather alongside community members to honor the victims and ask for gun safety one year after the Covenant School shooting.
The performances and speakers will be at a stage set up to the left of the West End entrance to Centennial Park near the traditional Musician’s Corner programs.
The program is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. CST with Old Crow Medicine Show’s frontman Ketch Secor, who will perform “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” alongside folk artist Molly Tuttle.
Nicole Floyd Smith, board vice chair of the non-profit Voices for a Safer Tennessee, and Todd Cruse, board chair, will address the crowd. Dr. Donovan McAbee of Belmont University and Judge Sheila Calloway will also address the crowd.
Religious leaders Father Mark Beckman of Saint Henry Catholic Church, Rashed Fakhruddin of the Islamic Center of Nashville, Rabbi Shanna Mackler of The Temple - Congregation Ohabai Sholom and Rev. Cody Balfour of Koinonia church will lead the crowd in prayers and reflections.
Midway through the program, the community will gather, link arms and sing “This Little Light of Mine” together, led by guitarist Grace Bowers.
Towards the end of the program, Christian artist Blessing Offor will perform song “Brighter Days.”
— Audrey Gibbs, The Tennessean
Prayer vigil to be held at Woodmont Christian Church
Woodmont Christian Church will host a service and prayer vigil at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with music to honor the three children and three adults killed in the Covenant School shooting.
Pastor Clay Stauffer said on X that he is praying for all Covenant families. Woodmont is less than two miles from the Covenant School and hosted a panel last May on gun reform and safety.
— Craig Shoup, The Tennessean
Why flags in Tennessee are at half staff
Gov. Bill Lee ordered flags at the state capitol and all state office buildings to be lowered to half staff from 10:11 a.m. until sunset to honor the three children and three adults killed in the Covenant School shooting.
“One year ago, the Covenant School experienced one of the most tragic and heartbreaking events in our state’s history. There are no words adequate enough to describe the immeasurable pain and sorrow of the families. Tennessee has been forever changed, and yet our hope is that through that change, along with the prayers of millions, there will be redemption through this great tragedy. Maria and I join many Tennesseans in lifting up the Covenant community in prayer,” Lee said in a statement.
— Craig Shoup, The Tennessean
'Our movement will never forget': Moms Demand Action to join human chain in remembrance of Covenant shooting, victims
Members of Moms Demand Action, a grassroots volunteer network that works toward ending gun violence, will join Voices for a Safer Tennessee alongside other organizations Wednesday during the "Linking Arms for Change," demonstration.
“Even as the headlines fade, our movement will never forget the lives that were senselessly taken that day," Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement Tuesday. "We’ll continue to honor their legacy by demanding action from the lawmakers who have still failed to act in the aftermath of this tragedy, and prevent more gun violence from tearing through Tennessee communities.”
After Covenant, Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit gun violence prevention organization, called on Tennessee lawmakers to find common ground on policies like an extreme risk law, which could have prevented the March shooting, they said.
However, Gov. Bill Lee’s "weak" proclamation prevented consideration of any meaningful gun safety legislation, Everytown for Gun Safety said in a statement Tuesday.
"As lawmakers reconvene this year, they are continuing to focus on increasing protections for the gun industry rather than addressing real problems in the state by passing foundational gun laws," Everytown for Gun Safety said.
— Diana Leyva, The Tennessean
Student activists demand change on Covenant shooting anniversary
Students from across Tennessee have been a constant presence at the State Capitol rallying for stricter gun laws in the wake of the Covenant School shooting.
Zack Maaieh, a volunteer leader with the Vanderbilt Students Demand Action chapter of Everytown for Gun Safety, helped coordinate a state-wide walkout after the shooting. Maaieh spent days at the State Capitol, urging lawmakers and the governor to call for a special session on public safety. When it finally happened in August of 2023, he testified against legislation that proposed arming teachers.
In an emailed statement Tuesday, Maaieh said the Covenant School shooting was the result of failed leadership in Tennessee, which is what led students across the state to walk out of school and demand action from lawmakers.
"Extremist lawmakers' grip on the legislature has kept us, and continues to keep us, from advancing any meaningful gun safety laws in Tennessee," Maaieh wrote. "So until we elect a gun-sense majority and unseat those who’ve refused to keep us safe, tragedies like what unfolded at the Covenant School will continue to occur.”
Jonna-Richie Ingram, a senior at Crosstown High School in Memphis and volunteer leader with the Crosstown High School Students Demand Action chapter, is a survivor of gun violence who helped lead hundreds of students during a school walk out after the Covenant Shooting and has also led other student activists to advocate for gun safety at the State Capitol.
In a Tuesday statement, Ingram said the scars left on the Nashville community have outlasted the shooting itself, a tragedy which she said could have been prevented.
"We’ve reached a point where students no longer know a world without active shooter drills or frantically scanning for exits upon entering a room," she said. "Guns are the leading cause of death for my generation, and while we bear the brunt of this issue, what gives me hope is seeing the strength and resilience of other young activists dedicating their lives to bringing an end to this crisis.”
— Diana Leyva, The Tennessean
Metro Council members to walk together, join human chain in solidarity
Members of the Metro Council will gather on the front steps of City Hall and walk together in solidarity to join in the "Linking Arms for Change" demonstration downtown.
Thousands are expected to join the human chain in a roughly four-mile path from Centenial Park to the Capitol.
"Thinking of the Covenant families today and every Nsahvillian whose life has been impacted by gun violence," Councilmember Erin Evans, who chairs the public health and safety committee, said on social media Wednesday morning.
— Kirsten Fiscus, The Tennessean
'Immeasurable pain and sorrow': Gov. Lee joins Tennesseans in mourning Covenant victims
Gov. Bill Lee and his wife, Maria, stand among the Tennesseans "lifting up the Covenant community in prayer," he said on social media Wednesday morning.
Maria Lee was friends with Cynthia Peak, one of the victims of the shooting.
"There are no words adequate enough to describe the immeasurable pain and sorrow of the families," Lee said. "Tennessee has forever changed, and yet our hope is that through that change, along with the prayers of millions, there will be redemption through this great tragedy."
— Kirsten Fiscus, The Tennessean
Nashville mayor, Metro police remember Covenant, the victims
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the Metro Nashville Police Department took to social media early Wednesday to reflect on the Covenant School shooting one year later.
“I hope today brings the Covenant community and all of Nashville healing as we work through a day that none of us will ever forget,” O’Connell wrote in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, shortly after 7 a.m.
“I have been inspired by the love and grace that I’ve seen from the Covenant community over the last year. I’m also encouraged by the common call of so many Nashvillians, one voice united saying we can achieve the safer community we strive for.”
The mayor went on to address the Covenant community directly.
“I want you to know that the city has its arms wrapped around you, and we are here for you – in ways large or small – in the near-term and long-term. My wish for all of you is a lasting peace,” he wrote before naming each of the six victims who died in the shooting.
“How we choose to represent the love and kindness that they stood for is the way in which we honor and carry on their legacies,” O’Connell wrote of the victims.
In a 7 a.m. X post, Metro Police also named all six victims, writing, “We stand with the Covenant School community. Forever in our hearts. March 27, 2023.”
— Nicole Young, The Tennessean
Lee signs emergency alarm bill into law
Gov. Bill Lee has signed into law a measure that will require all public, charter, private, and church-related schools to develop a safety plan that determines the cause of a fire alarm activation, including for potential active shooter events.
The new law went into effect on March 12 – just two weeks before the anniversary of the Covenant School attack.
The bill was sponsored by House and Senate leadership at the request of the family of 9-year-old Covenant School student William Kinney, who was killed on March 27 as he served as line leader for his third grade class. Hearing the fire alarm activated by smoke from the shooter’s firearm, and unaware of the shooter inside the building, the class followed protocol to evacuate the building.
“My child was the line leader that day. He was fulfilling his duty to lead his class to safety from a possible fire, and within seconds of the building being breached, his class encountered the shooter and he and his two classmates were lying dead or dying,” William’s mother, Erin Kinney, wrote in submitted testimony to lawmakers. “Had the students or teachers known that there was a shooter in the building, of course they would not have attempted to evacuate – they would have locked down, and they would have been safe.”
All schools in the state now have until Jan. 1, 2025 to institute procedures to determine whether an emergency situation involves fire, an active shooter or another incident, in consultation with local fire and law enforcement officials. Procedures must be reviewed annually.
— Vivian Jones, The Tennessean
'Solace in the light': Covenant School marks one year since shooting with private ceremony
A year later, "the pain is still very real," the Covenant School said in a statement.
The school will hold a private event "to prioritize the well-being and healing of our students, families, teachers, and staff," the school said.
“As we mark this painful anniversary, we find solace in the light that has emerged from the darkness. It is with profound gratitude that we acknowledge the overwhelming outpouring of love and support we have received from our local Nashville community and around the world," the school said. "Your kindness has been a beacon of hope, and the depth of your generosity profoundly moves us. We continue to see all of the ways in which the Lord is providing for and loving our community. He has been and will continue to be our comfort and strength.”
— Kirsten Fiscus, The Tennessean
Thousands expected to mark Covenant School with human chain
The nonpartisan group Voices for a Safer Tennessee, which formed in the fallout of the shooting, will host a demonstration stretching from Centennial Park to the Tennessee State Capitol at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The demonstration, "Linking Arms for Change," will feature thousands of people forming a human chain over the course of the four-mile path.
"Voices for a Safer Tennessee asks the community to wear red and link arms to honor the memory of the Covenant victims and the hundreds of Tennessee lives lost to preventable firearm tragedies over the last year," a release from the group said. "This event will demonstrate the hope felt by Tennesseans that together we can strengthen policies that will lead to safer communities across our state."
Covenant School to return home after nearly a year at Brentwood Hills
In the days after the shooting, Brentwood Hills Church of Christ opened their doors to the Covenant School as a place to heal and find some semblance of normalcy.
The 1,000-member congregation moved meetings to free up space and converted small Bible study rooms into classrooms with books, bulletin boards and other supplies.
“In the darkest of days, we have to look for the light,” Covenant School first grade teacher Kellie Reifenberger said. “Our alma mater at Covenant says we’re a beacon on a hill, and these people have been a beacon in our valley.”
In April, Covenant School will return home after almost a year on the makeshift Brentwood Hills campus.
Covenant School shooting leaves six dead
A 10:11 a.m. on March 27, 2023, a gunman shot out a glass door at the Covenant School, gaining entrance to the private, Christian elementary school.
Minutes later, the shooter, a former Covenant School student, had killed the three students and three staff members as others fled or sheltered in place.
Metro Nashville police killed the shooter 14 minutes after the initial call to 911.