The sister of a hero police officer who gunned down the Covenant School shooter in Nashville said her heart 'shattered into a thousand pieces' when she learned about the tragedy.
Deanna DeHart, the older sister of Michael Collazo - one of two officers who shot dead Audrey Hale following the murder of three children and three staff members - said her brother and his colleagues 'saved a lot of lives' through their quick response.
She also gave a moving tribute to the victims as more harrowing images emerged of children fleeing the school during the shooting. A group of young children were filmed being led across a road away from the school after they escaped the building during the attack.
DeHart, who wore a t-shirt emblazoned with a gun rights slogan for her interview, said Collazo is 'doing as well as can be expected'.
'It's a sad situation but he's aware he has a lot of support behind him, but is also aware that it's a terrible situation to have to go through for everybody and he knows that the world's watching,' she told NewsNation.
Deanna DeHart, the older sister of Michael Collazo, said the quick reactions of her brother and his colleagues 'saved lives' after the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville
A group of young students at the Covenant School were seen fleeing the building across a nearby road after the shooting started
Collazo is a Marine Corps veteran who also previously responded to the Christmas 2020 bombing in Nashville, when attacker Anthony Quinn Warner detonated a bomb in downtown, killing himself and injuring eight others.
He was hailed a hero along with Rex Engelbert, 27, both of the Nashville Metro Police, after they took down Hale.
Less than three minutes after Collazo and Engelbert entered the school to respond to the incident, Hale was dead.
Engelbert, armed with a scoped rifle, bravely led a team towards Hale's gunfire then fired four shots which brought her down. Collazo, wearing a baseball cap and armed with only a handgun, approached the downed shooter, who was still armed and moving, and unleashed four more shots to neutralize her.
DeHart said: 'I knew my brother was brave, it wasn't until I saw the [bodycam] video that I really processed how brave.'
She added: 'When we first found out, it's a weird feeling, our hearts shattered into a thousand pieces. We were very proud, but at the same time very said that he had to go through what he did, that every one of those families and children had to go through what they did.'
DeHart said police 'did save a lot of lives... At the end of the day that's what happened ultimately, and they did their job. Proud is probably an understatement.'
She gave the interview while wearing a t-shirt with the words: 'A rock in bad hands killed Able [sic]. A rock in good hands killed Goliath. It's not about the rock.'
The slogan, which references stories from the Bible, has been used by gun rights activists in the aftermath of the attack after it strengthened calls to ban assault weapons and tighten gun controls.
Asked about the t-shirt, DeHart said: 'It's not about my opinion really. We just want to keep this about Michael and the officers there and the families - lives were flipped upside down.'
Officer Michael Collazo, who was armed with a handgun, fired four shots at Hale
Police said 14 minutes passed from the initial 911 call to when Hale was killed, but haven't said how long it took them to arrive at the scene. While the full timeline is still emerging, the decisive response of Collazo, Engelbert and their colleagues has been credited with saving lives.
Law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow said the officers who responded in Nashville showed 'law enforcement at its finest'.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper praised the officers for 'rushing into gunfire', adding: 'There is a lot of gunfire. it's clearly a scene that if they had not gotten there quickly, it would have been a terrible outcome.'
A chilling 911 call was released on Thursday from a friend of Hale who had received messages from the trans school shooter before the rampage.
Averianna Patton received several disturbing messages on Instagram which said, 'I'm planning to die today – you'll probably hear about me on the news'.
Patton called the suicide hotline, who then encouraged her to contact the authorities to alert them to the situation.
Before traveling to the school, the killer sent a haunting final message to Averianna Patton on Instagram
Averianna Patton said she knew Hale had been suicidal in the past and the two had played basketball together
In her 911 call at around 10:12am - when armed officers arrived on the scene - she said: 'I'm just trying to see if anybody can help. I just don't want it on my conscience.'
Hale's former basketball teammate was told there was nothing officers could do to help without an address for the gunman.
But the Metropolitan Nashville Police has confirmed to Fox17 that at the time of the call police were already arriving at the private Christian school to tackle the shooter.
Hale, who went by both Audrey and Aiden, had already shot and killed six people by the time police arrived.
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