White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blamed Republicans and their stance on gun control for the grade school shooting Monday that left three children and three adults dead.
The shooting at Covenant Christian school shocked Nashville, and was particularly unusual given that police said the shooter was a 28-year-old woman. Police also believe the woman was a former student.
The White House was quick to politicize the tragedy.
“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban?” the press secretary asked during a Monday afternoon press conference. “Once again, the president calls on Congress to do something before another child is senselessly killed in a preventable act of gun violence.”
.@PressSec Karine Jean-Pierre on Nashville, TN school shooting: "We need to do something. Once again, the president calls on Congress to do something before another child is senselessly killed in a preventable act of gun violence. Again, we need to do something." pic.twitter.com/XEt8e5euS6
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 27, 2023
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and is actively talking with local leaders in Nashville, according to Jean-Pierre. Biden commented on the shooting during the Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Summit Monday afternoon, calling on Congress to pass his gun control legislation.
“We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart,” the president said. “We have to do more to protect our schools so they’re not turned into prisons.”
“I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban,” he added.
An unidentified female, 28, killed at least three children and three adults Monday inside a Nashville Christian school before police fatally shot her, officials said.
The shooter was engaged by police around 10:27 a.m., 14 minutes after the first call was made to police, Nashville authorities said in a press conference.
“The police department response was swift,” a police official said at a press conference outside the school. “Officers entered the first story of the school and began clearing it. They heard shots coming from the second level and they went toward the gunfire. When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her, she was fatally shot by responding police officers. ”
The official said the shooter was “armed with two assault-type rifles and a handgun.”
