A faculty head, a custodian and a substitute instructor are among the many victims of a taking pictures that has left six lifeless at a college in Nashville, Tennessee.

Three pupils have been additionally killed within the assault by a 28-year-old former pupil on Monday. The kids, all aged 9, have been named as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.

The three workers killed have been Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Michael Hill, 61.

Police mentioned they didn’t consider any of the victims had been particularly focused.

Koonce was the top of faculty at Covenant, and one dad or mum advised BBC Information she was a “saint”.

“She did a lot for these children,” mentioned the mom, who has two youngsters enrolled on the faculty.

“She knew each single pupil by title,” she mentioned. “She did all the pieces to assist them when households could not afford issues, it did not matter. She discovered methods for them to remain.”

Robert Homosexual mentioned he met Ms Koonce when he was a pupil at Christ Presbyterian Academy, a small non-public Christian faculty in Nashville the place he mentioned Koonce as soon as labored as a particular schooling instructor.

He advised BBC Information she was all the time keen to encourage and empower her college students.

“She might converse actually rigorously in a means that might encourage college students to see the very best in them and to develop,” he mentioned.

“She all the time made her college students really feel that they have been liked by a God who cared about them personally, and that it was our job to point out that love to one another as fellow individuals.”

Koonce later turned the top of the Covenant College, which was based in 2001 as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, in line with the varsity’s web site.

Mr Hill was a custodian on the faculty and his daughter, Brittany Hill mentioned he died doing a job “he completely liked”.

“At present my Dad misplaced his life on the Covenant College,” she shared in a submit on Fb.

“I’ve watched faculty shootings occur through the years and by no means thought I’d lose a liked one over an individual attempting to unravel a brief drawback with a everlasting resolution.”

Mr Hill labored on the Covenant College for greater than 14 years, in line with an announcement from his household. “As we grieve and attempt to grasp any sense of understanding of why this occurred, we proceed to ask for assist,” the assertion mentioned.

He was a father of eight youngsters, in line with a GoFundMe made in his honour, and had 14 grandchildren, US media reported. He loved cooking and spending time with household, his family advised ABC Information.

Tim Dunavant, a pastor at Hartsville First United Methodist Church, mentioned he had beforehand labored at Covenant and had employed Mr Hill.

He mentioned he would miss “these encouraging texts out of the blue” from Mr Hill, and wouldn’t be shocked if it turned out Mr Hill had sacrificed his life to save lots of others as a result of “he is the form of man that might try this”.

Ms Peak was a substitute instructor working on the faculty on the day of the assault, police mentioned.

She grew up in Louisiana. Chuck Owen, who mentioned he was a lifelong pals of hers, wrote a tribute to her on Fb saying he could not wrap his thoughts round her demise. “I grieve by way of tears as I write these phrases,” he wrote.

Ms Peak is survived by her husband, daughter and two sons.

She had an “unwavering religion in Christ”, her brother, Invoice Broyles, advised the Tennessean. “She was a robust believer. She would need a optimistic strategy on this to assist God’s kingdom on Earth.”

Koonce, 60, was a Baton Rouge native and graduated from Louisiana State College and College Excessive Lab College.

Governor Invoice Lee mentioned his spouse, Maria, had deliberate to satisfy Ms Peak on Monday evening however was killed hours earlier than.

Hallie was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, senior pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church. He described his daughter as “such a present” in an announcement to ABC Information.

He additionally spoke of his religion that they might at some point be reunited.

“We’re heartbroken,” he advised the outlet. “By tears we belief that she is within the arms of Jesus who will elevate her to life as soon as once more.”

At a church service held hours after the taking pictures, a senior minister at Woodmont Christian Church mentioned Evelyn Dieckhaus was within the third grade. Her sister, who is 2 years older, cried through the service in line with the Tennessean newspaper.

“I do not wish to be an solely baby,” the report quotes her as saying.

In an announcement shared with US media, her household mentioned their hearts have been “fully damaged”.

“We can’t consider this has occurred,” they mentioned. “Evelyn was a shining mild on this world.”

Rachael Freitas, a buddy of the household, described the third grader as a baby with an “unflappable spirit”.

“He was unfailingly form, mild when the scenario referred to as for it, fast to chortle, and all the time inclusive of others,” she wrote in a GoFundMe fundraiser she created in his honour. “Candy Will knew no strangers, and our hearts our damaged for his household as they attempt to discover their means ahead.”