Funerals begin for six people killed in mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville
A community still reeling from a mass shooting that claimed the lives of three adults and three children came together Friday for the first of six funerals linked to the massacre at the Covenant School in Nashville.
Friends and family of 9-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus were asked to wear pink and green to her funeral in tribute to the girl’s “light and love of color,” according to her obituary. Services were held at the Woodmont Christian Church in Nashville on Friday, followed by a private reception.
“With an unwavering faith in the goodness of others, Evelyn made people feel known, seen, but never judged,” the obituary said. “Her adoring family members agree that ‘she was everyone’s safe space.’”
She will be laid to rest on Saturday in a private family burial.
Those also killed at the Covenant School on Monday include 9-year-old students William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs; 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, the head of the Christian school; Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher; and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian.
Hallie’s family and members of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, including her grandparents, prayed the rosary in her memory Thursday night, according to a Facebook post. They will say their final goodbyes during a private funeral on Tuesday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, where her father is the lead pastor.
A funeral for Hill will be held at Stephens Valley Church in Nashville on Tuesday. Visitation for Koonce will take place the same day at Christ Presbyterian Church, with a service on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Funeral services for Kinney are set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Christ Presbyterian. Peak’s visitation will be held at the same church on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., followed by a service at noon.
According to authorities, 28-year-old Audrey Hale busted into the Covenant school on Monday around 10 a.m. Body cam and surveillance video shows the shooter, once a student at the school, broke through the glass of a side door, entered the building, proceeded to the second floor and began to shoot.
Hale was shot and killed by responding law enforcement officers.
With News Wire Services
