Queen of All Saints, Loyola graduate one of two officers who killed suspect in mass shooting at Nashville school; Officer Rex Engelbert praised for his bravery
by BRIAN NADIG
A 2010 graduate of Queen of All Saints School in Sauganash on Chicago’s Northwest Side was one of two Nashville police officers who on Monday shot and killed an active shooter who had just murdered three 9-year-old students and three staff members at a private Christian school in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville.
Officer Rex Engelbert is a four-year veteran of the Nashville police force. He grew up in the Forest Glen area and graduated from Loyola Academy in Wilmette after attending Queen of All Saints.
“We send our condolences to the Covenant School Community and all those who are affected by this tragedy. We are incredibly grateful to Officer Rex Engelbert for his responsiveness and courage. We join the countless others across the country saluting Officer Rex for his bravery,” said 39th Ward Alderman Samantha Nugent, whose ward includes Queen of All Saints and the Forest Glen neighborhood.
Nashville police have released footage from Engelbert’s body cam showing him and other officers conducting a search of first-floor classrooms and then heading upstairs as the shooter, Audrey Hale, is at a window firing shots at officers who are outside the school.
The footage shows Engelbert firing several shots at Hale. Footage from the body cam of another officer, Michael Collazo, shows that Collazo also fired at the 28-year-old Hale after Engelbert did.
As Engelbert arrives at the school, he pulls a rifle from the back of his police car and is told by a school official that all the students appear to be accounted for except for two. Moments later he and several other officers enter the school and began their search.
Surveillance footage shows Hale, who was carrying three guns, entered the school after shooting out the windows of an entrance.
Police have described Hale as a former student who may have resented going to the school.
