Police chief reveals Nashville mass murderer had another target — and the significant reason why she didn't follow through



Nashville Police Chief John Drake made an interesting disclosure on Monday about the plans of the perpetrator of the Covenant School massacre.

At a press conference, Drake said that investigators had discovered the perpetrator had planned to attack another location, but decided against that location because it had significant security.

"There was another location that was mentioned, but because of a threat assessment by the suspect of too much security, they decided not to," Drake said. "That area was here in Nashville, so we're continuing with that investigation as well."

Drake confirmed the perpetrator had written a manifesto that explained why she conducted the attack, which included detailed plans. That is presumably the source of law enforcement's theory that the perpetrator skipped her first targeted location because of "too much security."

Chief Drake, Mayor Cooper, Don Aaron provide update on investigation youtu.be

The admission is significant because, at least on an anecdotal level, it confirms that increased security measures, such as armed personnel, make potential targets "hard" and not "soft." Advocates of armed security argue that "hard targets," as opposed to "soft targets," deter individuals bent on violence who wish to carry out an attack.

One of those locations may have been a local mall, Drake said on Tuesday.

"We strongly believe there was going to be some other targets, including maybe family members, and one of the malls here in Nashville," Drake told CBS News. "And that just did not happen."

Whether the mall was the location the perpetrator initially wanted to attack is not yet known. Malls are harder targets because many citizens are legally armed for self-protection. Just last month, a massacre was averted in El Paso when a teenager opened fire inside the mall. And last year, an armed citizen shot dead a person who opened fire inside an Indiana mall food court.

Schools, on the other hand, are generally "soft targets," where firearms are not permitted.

Police do not believe that any of the victims of Monday's atrocity were targeted specifically. Rather, the location was targeted. Drake told CBS News that the perpetrator may have resented having been sent to the school when she was younger.

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'If you do not meet violence with violence, then you will be violently killed': Florida sheriff announces bold plan to make schools 'hard targets' for shooters



A Florida sheriff has reassured parents that children will be kept safe in the upcoming school year, announcing that deputies in Brevard County will be equipped with rifles and tactical gear to make schools "hard targets" for would-be shooters.

In a Facebook video posted Monday, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey detailed school safety measures local police stations have taken after the deadly mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

"Folks, let me be very clear. You are not coming in to my schools and killing our children. I firmly believe that if you do not meet violence with violence, you will be violently killed," Ivey said. "My goal is to avoid ever having to face a threat on one of our campuses by being better prepared, better armed, and better trained than anyone else, and especially someone thinking about harming our children or our teachers."

Ivey announced that school resource deputies with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office will be given new uniforms with a "tactical appearance that clearly signifies we mean business when it comes to protecting our children."

Officers will also be permitted to carry rifles on campus, changing a policy that Ivey said previously required his deputies to keep their long guns locked in a gun safe within their parked patrol cars.

"This new style uniform and tactical preparedness gives our team members the advantage and ability to instantly address the threat with the level of force necessary to eliminate the shooter and save the lives of innocent children and teachers," he explained.

"While there will be those that perhaps don't understand this new tactical approach to keeping our kids safe, it is my prayer that this new level of preparedness and immediate ability to address the threat will prevent an active shooter from ever walking onto one of our campuses and trying to harm a child," Ivey said.

A North Carolina school district recently adopted similar school safety measures. Madison County Schools, near Asheville, North Carolina, announced Friday that AR-15 rifles would be kept on campus locked in safes for school resource officers to access if there's ever a shooting event.

“Having a deputy just armed with a handgun isn't enough to stop these animals,” Sheriff Buddy Harwood said, according to WLOS-TV. “That's why I've decided to arm all of my school resource officers with AR-15 rifles.”

Though the local superintendent and county board support the sheriff's new policy, it is opposed by UNC Chapel Hill education professor Dr. Dorothy Espelage. She said she's conducted decades of research on school safety and determined that "hardening" schools could lead to accidents and increased juvenile arrests.

"What's going to happen is we're going to have accidents with these guns," Espelage told WLOS. "Just the presence of an SRO increases violence in the schools. There's more arrests of kids. Why is it that they have to have these AR-15s? It doesn't make any sense.”

Harwood said the AR-15s would be locked in an undisclosed location within safes paid for by the county.