Two of the victims of Monday’s school shooting in Nashville were longtime family friends of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and his wife, the governor shared in a video address Tuesday night.
Lee claimed that Cynthia Peak, 61, was scheduled to have dinner with Tennessee’s first lady, Maria Lee, at the governor’s mansion on Monday night—but never made it. Instead, she was killed while substitute teaching at The Covenant School alongside five others, including three children. He also named the school’s late headmistress, Katherine Koontz, saying the three women have been friends for years.
“Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends,” the Republican governor said in a video posted to Twitter.
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“Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce were all teachers at the same school and had been family friends for decades,” Lee added. He notably did not mention gun control or any other legislative action specifically, simply saying that it remains too soon to talk, but “we will act.”
“There will come a time to ask how a person can do this,” Lee said. “There will come a time to discuss and debate policy, but this is not a time for hate or rage—that will not resolve or heal.”
The bloodshed began around 10:13 a.m. Monday morning when the shooter, later identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, shot through one of the school’s locked doors and began firing seemingly at random.
Police have said that Hale, a former student who wrote a “manifesto” and possessed detailed maps of the school, may have been motivated by “resentment” about being forced to attend Covenant—but stressed that the exact motive remains unclear.
Hale, who police say identified as transgender, was apparently being treated for an emotional disorder before carrying out the shooting. A family member also told The Daily Beast that Hale “relatively recently ” started using he/him pronouns.
The trio of 9-year-olds killed in the shooting—Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney—all appeared to be random targets, authorities said. In addition to Peak and Koonce, one other staff member was shot dead: school custodian Michael Hill, a beloved father of seven who students affectionately called “Big Mike.”
