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Photo essay: Nashville reels after six killed in Monday school shooting

By: John Partipilo - March 29, 2023 4:02 pm

In Nashville, Rev. Ingrid McIntyre hugs a mourner during a Monday night vigil for shooting victims at Belmont Methodist Church. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A beautiful spring morning devolved into chaos Monday, as emergency vehicles sped to the scene of a mass shooting at Covenant School in the Green Hills part of Nashville. Area schools, public and private, went on lockdown and frantic parents tried to reach their children. A shooter killed six at Covenant, including three children attending the K-6 private school, and three staff members. Photojournalist John Partipilo has documented the week’s events and shares images of parents picking their children up from a private school near Covenant on Monday, to area residents weeping at the first of several vigils, to mothers outraged by a lack of legislation action on gun safety.

A Monday tragedy

Metro Nashville Police officers on watch in Nashville's Green Hills neighborhood, near the site of Monday's Covenant School shooting. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Green Hills residents leaving the area following a mass shooting at nearby Covenant School. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A father picks his daughter up from St. Paul Christian School, a private elementary school about a quarter of a mile from Covenant Church. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A police vehicle rolls down Nashville's Hillsboro Road towards Covenant School on Monday. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake addresses members of the media on Monday, March 27, after a school shooting at a private elementary school in Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Seven candles burn on the altar at Belmont United Methodist Church, one for each of the shooting victims and one for the shooter. (Photo: John Partipilo)

The first vigil for community members was held Monday night at Belmont Methodist Church, and drew over 200 mourners. Several vigils are scheduled through the week, including one at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at which First Lady Jill Biden is scheduled to attend.

The vigils

Russanne Buchi-Fotre weeps after lighting a candle for victims at a community vigil at Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Kim Hawkins, right, hugs her daughter, Keller, at Monday's Belmont United Methodist Church vigil. (Photo: John Partipilo)

A mourner prays during a March 27, 2023 community vigil service at Belmont United Methodist Church. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Lane Parker lights a candle for victims of the Covenant School shooting at Belmont United Methodist Church. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Metro Councilmember Zulfat Suara, left, leans on Maura Lee Albert during the March 27 vigil. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, and the mother of two, addresses a crowd at a Tuesday Moms Demanding Action for Gun Sense in America rally at the Cordell Hull Legislative Building. (Photo: John Partipio)

About 400 Tennesseans, including several women whose children lost their lives to gun violence, gathered Tuesday afternoon outside the Cordell Hull Legislative Building to urge Tennessee legislators to pass gun safety bills and to drop bills that would make guns easier to obtain. No Republican lawmakers attended.

Moms Demand Action protests at Capitol

From left, Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, House Democratic Caucus Leader John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, with Shaundelle Brooks, Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanoogan, and Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, at a Tuesday Moms Demand Action rally. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Rafiah Muhammad-McCormick, right, with Shaundelle Brooks. Brooks's son, Akilah Dasilva, was killed by a shooter during the March 22, 2018 mass shooting at a South Nashville Waffle House. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Rafiah Muhammad-McCormick, whose son, Rodney Armstrong, was shot and killed at their home in 2020, gives a fiery speech. (Photo: John Partipilo)

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John Partipilo

Working as a photojournalist for 40 years, Partipilo has won awards such as NPPA Best of Photojournalism and nominated for two Pulitzers. His photography has also been featured in national and international publications. Most importantly Partipilo’s work is about people — people in their different environments and people in their different stages of life. That’s the heart of his work. To him people are so important, because they all have a unique story.