Courage

 

(Screenshot from Nashville Police Department)

Full disclosure: this post is pro-police. It is not meant to be political but I know how that goes.

I watched the body cam footage from the Nashville Police Department today in response to the shooting at The Covenant School. I watched the security camera footage that was released yesterday.

It's all absolutely stunning.

So, hold on, before we continue, let us make sure to honor those lost.

- Evelyn Dieckhaus

- Hallie Scruggs 

- William Kinney

Each was nine years old.

- Cynthia Peak, 61, substitute teacher

- Katherine Koonce, 60, head of school

- Michael Hill, 61, custodian.

Their names stand above anything else there is to say. Their names deserve the outrage that has once again exploded the discussion about gun control but should also further the conversation about mental illness.

I can't fathom any of it.

So without climbing to any high horse, I'd like to talk about the bodycam video.

Astounding. 

It involves a bravery that I can't comprehend.

It's all over social media tonight. I encourage you to watch it if you can think you can handle it.

Much has been made of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Nineteen students and two teachers lost their lives that day. Of greatest concern was the response of the Ulvalde Police Department who waited over an hour before engaging the shooter. 

To be very certain, that was clearly not the case in Nashville and the bodycam shows that. Their response, in complete chaos, is heroic. 

A piercing alarm is whaling as officers yell at each other to scan rooms for signs of anything, especially the shooter. 

Yet they're still amazingly calm despite the yelling. They're trained for this, sure, but this isn't a drill.

They encounter locked doors and, like some kind of mystery movie, it ticks me off.

They continue to walk through halls and rooms before climbing the stairs. Even though I sort of know how things turn out, there's that air of mystery and concern as they go around each corner.

Finally, in an upstairs lobby, they encounter the suspected shooter, Audrey Hale, 28, and kill her.

It's chilling.

Now, to be very clear, six lives were lost before police arrived. But no one else was physically injured. That matters.

Protect and serve. That's what police are supposed to do, right?

The mental impact will live with children, the staff, and the first responders for years.

All of this is so unnecessary. Who doesn't know that? Can we all agree on that?

This isn't a post to talk about the "bad apples." While I mentioned the Uvalde police, it's purely brought up to show the contrast with Nashville.

Over an hour in Uvalde. Fourteen minutes in Nashville.

Nashville police did what, in my opinion, is supposed to be done.

First responders -- especially police - have faced scrutiny like never before and deservedly so. But there will be no scrutiny here tonight for Nashville police.

Ask yourself this: could you do what they did?

No. I could not. 

In my world, police are friends and members of my family. I admire their bravery. I always have.

Tonight isn't about the bad cops.

Tonight is about remembering the six lives lost in The Covenant School in Nashville, TN.

Tonight is about applauding the officers of the Nashville Police Department who helped end the shooting.

Oh, we still have much work to do to keep our children safe. Drag queens aren't the problem. Nor are books.

I'd rather read To Kill a Mockingbird every day for the rest of my life than ever read about another school shooting.

How about we just focus on keeping kids safe?

Thank you, Nashville police.