Jill Biden attended a candlelight vigil in Nashville on Wednesday night to honour the three children and three adults who were murdered at the Covenant school in the city.
Earlier it emerged that the shooting suspect, Audrey Hale, had previously posted on Facebook about the death of a romantic partner, according to a former teacher.
Art college instructor Maria Colomy, who taught Hale at the Nossi College of Art & Design in Nashville, recalled a social media post from the shooter “openly grieving” the unknown individual and said that Hale had announced the bereavement and asked to be addressed as Aiden and by masculine pronouns from then on.
Three children aged nine – Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney – were shot dead on Monday, as were staff members Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill.
Meanwhile, Nashville police chief John Drake has said that Hale was “under doctor’s care for an emotional disorder” before the killings and had hidden seven legally purchased weapons at home.
