CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem took to the airwaves to dismiss concerns about the recent Nashville school shooter identifying as transgender because it was a gun that was used to kill three children and three adults.
Host Don Lemon asked Kayyem if the transgender identity makes it difficult for police to piece together what happened because these types of attacks are not carried out by "typically a woman, regardless of how they’re identifying?"
"So, each of these cases is always going to have a particular difference, right, whether it’s someone is angry at their father or someone had something happen at the school, and this is a unique case and we have to be sensitive about it to the extent that Audrey Hale identified as a woman. We do not see mass shooters who are female, especially, in particular, school shooting murderers," Kayyem replied.
"I sort of think now, like, we don’t own guns in this country, guns own us at this stage, and this is where we have to now focus on an important part of an agenda, which includes mental health, protecting our kids, fortifying schools, but also the connectivity, which is a certain kind of gun. You know, look, pronouns — pronouns do not kill children, right? People with guns kill children," she continued. "And it’s going to be a distraction in our coverage and keep us from what we now know, which is each of these cases has a similarity of more than any difference."
“Yeah. And police are identifying the shooter as a trans person, just so you know. And you’re right, it shouldn’t matter, the pronoun, but it is something that is different and people are discussing and I think we should discuss it, also be sensitive about it, but it is an important part of the conversation," Lemon said in agreement.
The six victims fatally shot by the shooter at Covenant School have been identified as: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, Cynthia Peak, age 61, Katherine Koonce, age 60, and Mike Hill, age 61.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake revealed the shooter did not attack another location because after doing a security review, it was too hard of a target. The shooter gained access to the building by shooting out the windows on the doors.