'Call it fate, call it God': Nashville police officers detail confrontation with Covenant shooter
Officer Rex Engelbert was conducting business nearby when he heard the call for an active shooter. Not being familiar with the area, Engelbert had to rely on GPS tracking to locate Covenant School.
"I think you call it fate, God or whatever," said Engelbert, who was among the first officers to respond.
About two miles away, detective Michael Collazo and detective Sgt. Jeff Mathes were at the Midtown Hills Precinct when code 9000 came in. Mathes recognized the address and its occupants — preschoolers as young as four.
"I've always known that to be the church on the hill as you go up Hillsboro Road," Mathes said.
They ran out the precinct.
Days later, the brotherhood of law enforcement is working to ensure first responders that did so much, saw so much, risked so much receive support.
The trio of officers represent the Metro Nashville Police Department’s response during one of the worst school shootings in Tennessee history. Approximately 200 officers reached the scene, many entering the school swiftly — with no complex plan or ballistic armor, just training — as they cleared room after room, hoping to save lives. Many others supported their efforts.
Former student Audrey Hale, 28, killed six people, including three children. Yet police chief John Drake said it could have been worse, if not for his officers' swift reactions and bravery.
Police fatally shot Hale within 15 minutes of the first 911 calls from staff and students who were hiding from the shooter. Commander Dayton Wheeler said that Hale fired at police as they arrived and created a staging area for rescuing victims.
"Training saved countless lives," Wheeler said.
Saving lives, though, sometimes comes at a cost.
15 minutes of terror: How the Covenant School shooting and Nashville police response unfolded
Inside the school, Mathes faced inner turmoil when he was forced to step over a victim on his way to eliminate the threat, actions officers are taught in active shooting situations.
"To this day, I don't know how I did that morally," Mathes said during Tuesday's press conference.
Already, Mathes said he's felt the strain of responding to the active shooter call. A lack of sleep. Hugging children and significant others more than normal. Realizing his heroics occur at the expense of his family.
“It has to in instances like this,” he explained.
“I'm not going to stop and say timeout and go talk to my wife, talk to my kids. I'm here to make sure everybody else goes home as much as possible, as many can and stabilize the community as best possible.”
More: Students walk out of schools across Nashville, demand gun reform in Covenant's wake
That’s why days after the tragedy, Drake said he spotted several kids on the street while he drove to work.
He started crying.
Collazo said officers aren’t going through this trauma alone. Although that is also a problem as a community mourns.
"I can tell you that just like every other officer that was out there, it’s not just us,” Collazo said.
“My wife’s going through this. My family’s going through this. Officer Rex’s fiancé’s going through this. Sergeant Mathes’ wife is going through all of this and it’s tough."
Walking past the fallen: 'To this day, I don't know how I did that morally'
It was a place for learning, for prayer.
But on March 27, as officers moved through the halls of Covenant School, it smelled like gunpowder.
The hallways were filled with smoke.
In total, Hale, fired 126 rounds from two assault rifles and 26 from a pistol.
Shots continued. Officers entered from various points of entry.
Engelbert, a four-year veteran, said two school staff members outside the building guided him in, providing a key to open a door.
As Engelbert prepared outside the school, grabbing a rifle with a scope, other officers arrived. Engelbert asked officers to join him in rushing into the school.
They heard gunshots from above. They quickly moved to the second floor, and were met by a locked door.
Collazo then met with Engelbert's team.
“At the time, I was upset that we had just hit a locked door,” Collazo said. “But now, looking back, I’m thankful we had a locked door because that was the school doing what they’ve been trained to do.
“That’s when everything kind of kicked into overdrive for us.”
The officers climbed the stairs to the second floor again, finding an open door this time.
“That’s when I ran into the second victim, laid out on the ground,” Collazo said. “We pushed past the victim because we continued to hear more shots being fired. You could clear as day tell they were rifle shots being fired.”
They reached the end of a hallway. Collazo called for the team to continue forward, "which (Engelbert) did without hesitation,” Collazo added.
At a crossroads
As the team of five came to the end of the hall, preparing for Hale's last stand, they waited for clarity as to where Hale was anchored on the second floor vestibule.
Hale rang out shots, giving position away.
Collazo yelled to his team.
"Right!"
Armed with a long range rifle, Engelbert fired four shots. Collazo did the same.
The department declined to comment whether officers received gunfire inside the school from Hale.
Drake said many officers put themselves in harms way by rushing to gunfire without ballistic vests and helmets.
"These people grabbed these kids and ran out of the school hoping to save lives," said Drake, who has served as police chief since November 2020.
The aftermath of Covenant School shooting
Although the officers involved have felt the strain of the situation, they have a good support system. Not just personally, but in the community.
Collazo, a nine-year veteran of the police department, somberly approached the lectern Tuesday with his eyes cast downward.
“I know a lot of people have reached out to myself, Officer Rex, Sergeant Mathes, our teammates as well,” Collazo said. “There’s been an outpouring of support from the community, from other agencies throughout the nation and through the world and I just want to tell them we greatly appreciate that, but also hope that they, along with all of us, remember the victims.”
Reporters Craig Shoup (cshoup@gannett.com, Twitter @Craig_Shoup), Kirsten Fiscus (kfiscus@gannett.com, Twitter @KDFiscus) and Diana Leyva (Dleyva@gannett.com, Twitter @_leyvadiana) cover breaking news and trending at The Tennessean.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville police officers detail confrontation with school shooter
