Nashville School Shooting Victims Remembered For Kindness, Bravery And Faith

NASHVILLE, TN — “A gift.” “A sweet person.” “Wonder Woman.”

Those who knew the six victims killed in Monday’s shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville are mourning after three children and three adults were shot by a 28-year-old former student.

Police identified the dead as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old, and Katherine Koonce, 60; Cynthia Peak, 61; and Mike Hill, 61.

Koonce was head of the school. Hill was a custodian and Peak was a substitute teacher, according to authorities.

"If there was any trouble in that school, she would run to it, not from it," Jackie Bailey said of her friend Koonce, who had led the school since 2016.

In a message on the school’s website, Koonce spoke of her goal not simply to educate students, but to help transform them.

"She was an absolute dynamo and one of the smartest women I'll ever know," said Anna Caudill, a former art teacher, who worked with Koonce for almost a decade at Christ Presbyterian Academy, another Christian school in the area connected to a Presbyterian Church in America congregation.

Caudill recalled how Koonce excelled at her day job while parenting her children, pursuing her master's and then doctorate degrees, and writing a book.

"She wasn't Wonder Woman, but I never saw the two in the same place," Caudill said.

She said Koonce loved her job at Covenant and she was loved by students and their families.

"Just yesterday, I had the great privilege of worshipping with Dr. Katherine Koonce," tweeted the Rev. Dr. Mika Edmondson of Nashville's Koinonia Church on Monday. "Today, she went to be with the savior she loved while protecting the children she loved."

Cynthia Peak was described as a "sweet person from a sweet family" by Chuck Owen, who told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that they grew up together in Leesville, Louisiana, and that Peak was a lifelong friend.

When he heard that Peak was killed in the shooting, "It took my breath away," Owen said. "You don't expect something like this. It just took the wind out of me.”

Owen described Peak as "a loving, caring and attentive person.”

Peak was also a devout Christian.

Scruggs was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, lead pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, who told ABC News his daughter was “such a gift.” Covenant Presbyterian Church shares a campus with The Covenant School.

"We are heartbroken," Chad Scruggs said in a statement to the outlet. "Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus who will raise her to life once again."

Chad Scruggs served for several years as associate pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, which is a sister church of Covenant Presbyterian. Park Cities Presbyterian held a prayer service Tuesday and issued a statement in the wake of the shooting.

“We love the Scruggs family and mourn with them over their precious daughter Hallie,” Senior Pastor Mark Davis said in the statement. “Together, we trust in the power of Christ to draw near and give us the comfort and hope we desperately need.”

Dieckhaus was in third grade, according to The Tennessean, which reported her older sister, a fifth-grader who planned to be baptized in the coming weeks, was moved to tears at a vigil Monday night.

“I don’t want to be an only child,” she said, the newspaper reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.