White House Blames Republicans After Nashville Christian School Shooting

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.”

Billionaire Who Committed Suicide Allotted Just $25 Million Of His Massive Fortune In Will

Famed billionaire financier Thomas H. Lee, who committed suicide last month, listed just $25 million worth of his assets in his will.

Lee, who was 78 when he died, is estimated to be worth $2 billion, so the $25 million allocated in his will would be a small fraction of his true net worth, the New York Post reported, citing court records. Lee named his wife, Ann Tenenbaum, whom he had been married to for nearly 30 years, as the executor of his estate. She will also inherit his residences, including an apartment in New York City’s upscale Sutton Place neighborhood and an estate in East Hampton. She will also inherit all of his personal “tangible” property, including furniture, artwork, jewelry, cars, and more.

The bulk of the $25 million was left to Lee’s two sons, 52-year-old Stephen and 42-year-old Robert, who each received $10 million. Lee wrote that his sons would receive nothing else, “not for any lack of love or affection for each of them but because they are otherwise well provided for.”

Lee has three additional children, who are listed as the beneficiaries of trusts, and it is unclear how much those trusts are worth.

Lee was discovered dead shortly after 11 a.m. on February 23 by an assistant who went looking for him when people hadn’t heard from him. First responders found Lee lying on his side with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head, law enforcement sources told The New York Post. A Smith & Wesson revolver registered and licensed to Lee was found at his side.

“We are profoundly saddened by the unexpected passing of our good friend and former partner, Thomas H. Lee,” said a statement issued by the company Lee founded in 1974. “Tom was an iconic figure in private equity. He helped pioneer an industry and mentored generations of young professionals who followed in his footsteps.”

It is unclear why Lee committed suicide.

“The family is extremely saddened by Tom’s death,” family friend and spokesperson, Michael Sitrick, said in a statement. “While the world knew him as one of the pioneers in the private equity business and a successful businessman, we knew him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, sibling, friend and philanthropist who always put others’ needs before his own. Our hearts are broken.”

Lee was married with five children and “one of the most generous, and kindest people [I] ever met,” a source who knew him told the Post.

The source also said that Lee “was regarded as having one of the most admired houses in the Hamptons — Bill and Hillary Clinton were frequent guests, they would regularly stay there.”

Lee was known for his successful use of leveraged buyouts, or LBOs, CNN reported. LBOs involve a buyer borrowing money to make a purchase of a company, and then selling that company in a relatively short period for a higher price, sometimes through another buyer, or by taking the company public, CNN reported.

One of Lee’s most famous and lucrative deals was his acquisition of Snapple in 1992, which he purchased for $135 million. He then sold it two years later to Quaker Oats for $1.7 billion. He did this by reportedly increasing the company’s sales and revenue from $95 million a year to $750 million. When Quaker sold Snapple after purchasing it from Lee, the company lost $1.4 billion in the deal.

Lee was considered a rarity in the industry since his firm didn’t take the usual steps to increase an acquired company’s worth before selling, such as greatly cutting costs or implementing mass layoffs.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free hotline for individuals in crisis or distress or for those looking to help someone else. It is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255.