The heavily armed 28-year-old who killed three children and three staff at The Covenant School, a Christian academy, in Nashville on Monday, has been identified as Audrey Hale - who was shot dead by police and is now suspected to be a former student of the school.

Chief of Police John Drake ID'd the suspect and added that the attack was premeditated, as the shooter left behind a manifesto and had a hold of maps of the school, including entry and exit points.

Drake, speaking with NBC News, confirmed that a bigger attack was planned, since the manifesto indicated "that there was going to be shootings at multiple locations, and the school was one of them," adding that the shooter was "prepared for a confrontation with law enforcement,"

According to both police and security footage, Hale entered the school with at least two assault rifles and a handgun, shooting through a door to gain access.  

Surveillance video released by Nashville PD shows Audrey Hale driving to Covenant Church/School and then shooting out the windows and breaking into the school. pic.twitter.com/2N9fkOdC2g

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) March 28, 2023

The six victims have also been identified: the three children aged under nine years old were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, and the adult victims were Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. 

'Ripping the soul of this nation'

The shooter is a female but wrote on social media that she identified as male, with her name changed from Audrey to Aiden.

The Covenant School in Tennessee is a private Presbyterian school that serves over 200 students, ranging from preschool ages to about age 12. The school was established by the Covenant Presbyterian Church, involved in a theologically conservative denomination, per The New York Times.

Hallie Scruggs, one of the children who were killed, is the daughter of the church's pastor, Chad Scruggs.

Although Police chief Drake stated that a motive was "not confirmed", and an investigation remains ongoing, he replied to Hale's gender identity being a factor by saying "there is some theory to that, we're investigating all the leads."

In response to the latest shooting to hit the US, President Joe Biden commented saying it was "sick" and underlined that gun violence was tearing the nation's "soul" as he urged Congress to pass a ban on the assault weapons commonly used in mass shootings.

"It's ripping our communities apart, ripping the soul of this nation, ripping at the very soul of the nation," he said.

Gunmakers in the United States have seen a tremendous hike in earnings from their sales of AR-15-style rifles, a US House Oversight Committee probe revealed last year, while lawmakers and the public call for holding the industry accountable for crimes committed using their products.

In January, Biden called on Congress to pass new legislation to ban assault weapons in light of a recent spate of shootings, including one in Monterey Park, California. He urged both chambers of Congress to act quickly and deliver the Assault Weapons Ban.

Biden said there was still work to be done to "keep dangerous firearms out of dangerous hands" after he signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act this summer.