Safety measures in Georgia schools discussed in wake of Nashville shooting

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A deadly school shooting killed six people in Tennessee on Monday, including three kids.

Metro Nashville Police are investigating the shooting at The Covenant Presbyterian School.

Police said the suspect, identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was killed by responding officers at 10:27 a.m. in a lobby-type area inside the school, which is attached to a church.

It’s tragic situations like this that Dr. Steven Webb talks to schools about in hopes of preventing them.

“They are people that are very bad people and looking for a target,” he said. “Unfortunately, our schools, our churches, even some businesses have become that target.”

Webb is in law enforcement and a certified active threat training instructor.

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He told Atlanta News First while most school districts have plans in place to prevent active shooter situations, those plans don’t always stay as tight as they should.

“Our problem is we start these things and get a great plan in a three-ring binder and when nothing happens, we stop doing the plan,” Webb said. “We start thinking it must be working because nothing happened.”

Georgia lawmakers passed an active shooter training bill earlier this month that would require every public school to do a yearly drill.

In DeKalb County, the school board recently approved the addition of mobile metal detectors to high schools and middle schools.

There have been 129 mass shootings nationwide in 2023, nearly 10,000 gun violence deaths, and 398 children and teens have been killed by gun violence, according to Gun Violence Archive.

SCHOOL SAFETY HEADLINES FROM ATLANTA NEWS FIRST

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