One year after Tennessee school shooting, thousands will join hands to honor victims of gun violence
By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
(CNN) — In Nashville, one year after a shooting at a private school took six lives, thousands will come together to honor victims of gun violence and provide a visible demonstration in support of reform.
About 13,000 people are expected to form a four-mile human chain Wednesday beginning at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt where some of the victims of the shooting were taken a year ago. It will lead to the state Capitol.
The non-profit Voices for a Safer Tennessee is organizing the event to honor the victims of The Covenant School shooting, including three 9-year-old children, and the hundreds of other lives lost to gun violence in the last year, a national crisis showing few signs of slowing down.
A 17-year-old gunman killed a sixth-grade student and wounded five others this January at an Iowa high school. Shootings at birthday parties, graduations, parades and more have contributed to gun violence being the top killer of children in the US.
There have been 83 mass shootings across the nation this year alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
Formed in the days following the school shooting, the non-profit organized its first annual human chain – more than 10,000 people and three miles long – a year ago to advocate for common sense gun laws.
The group has since advocated for legislation aimed at strengthening background checks, requiring secure storage for firearms and allowing the temporary transfer of firearms away from people who pose an imminent risk of danger.
The Covenant School shooting
Last March, a former student broke into the private Christian school and began shooting with an assault-style rifle.
The victims included three 9-year-old students, Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. Head of the school, Katherine Koonce, 60; custodian and father of seven Mike Hill, 61; and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, were also killed.
The shooter, Audrey Hale, 28, was gunned down by police. Authorities believe the six victims were shot randomly.
Hale left behind writings about the planned attack, which have been the center of a heated legal battle between those who want the writings released as evidence and victims’ parents, who said releasing the writings would contribute to further trauma.
Images of the shooter’s writings were released online by a conservative political commentator in November. Police said they have exhausted all avenues in their effort to track down those responsible for the leak.
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CNN’s Holly Yan and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
