‘Do something’ trends on Twitter after latest US school shooting

‘How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act?’ White House Press Secretary asks

The phrase “do something” trended on Twitter with 198,000 posts following the Nashville school shooting that left three children and three adults dead.

The suspect, Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old thought to be a former student at The Covenant School, was shot and killed by police on Monday morning.

“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act? … We need to do something,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

Georgia Democrat and Marjorie Taylor Greene challenger Marcus Flowers wrote, “as America grieves over yet another school shooting, this time in Nashville, Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to prevent the ATF from doing their job. Common Sense Gun Legislation is necessary. We must do something to protect our children”.

“Our hearts are breaking - yet again. The pain of the families of those killed in Nashville today, like the pain of tens of thousands of families a year in America, cries out for action. It is long past time to do something about gun violence,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted.

Democratic Representative Ted Lieu wrote, “Another mass shooting at a school in America, this time in Nashville. Are House Republicans going to do something? Yes, @GopJudiciary is holding a Committee markup tomorrow to make it easier to convert pistols to short-barrel rifles through the use of a pistol brace. Outrageous”.

“How many more children have to die in a school shooting before Republican politicians get the guts to do something about assault weapons?” former House and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said.

The suspect in the Nashville school shooting is a 28-year-old from the city, police have said. Police have identified the suspected shooter by their name at birth, Audrey Hale.

Hale reportedly was a transgender man who used he/him pronouns, though law enforcement officials initially described the suspect as a woman in the aftermath of the shooting. Police did not provide another name.

Hale is said to have used two assault-type weapons and a handgun.

Three adults and three children were killed in the shooting.

Only one officer was injured, from cut glass. Two officers from a team of five engaged the suspect and shot him, police said.

Police were called to the scene at 10.13am local time and the suspect was shot and killed 14 minutes later, at 10.27am.

Mr Aaron told the press that police were going through the first floor when they heard gunshots from upstairs.

“They immediately went to the gunfire,” Mr Aaron told the press, adding that the suspect entered the school via a side entrance and went to the second floor, “firing multiple shots”.

The confrontation between officers and the suspect then took place on the second floor in a “lobby-type area”.

The shooting took place at The Covenant School; the Presbyterian institution has around 200 students from preschool to sixth grade.

President Joe Biden said on Monday that “I want to commend the police who” responded “swiftly within minutes … We’re monitoring the situation really closely … and we have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart … and we have to do more to protect our schools so they aren’t turned into prisons”.

“So I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban. It’s about time that we began to make some more progress,” he added.