美国国家公共电台 NPR--Former student opens fire at a private religious school in Nashville — killing 6

Former student opens fire at a private religious school in Nashville — killing¹ 6

Transcript²

Nashville is mourning victims of Monday's school shooting as police try to figure out the motive³ of the 28-year-old shooter, who was killed by police. Three children and 3 adults were killed.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Nashville is in mourning today after a shooting at a small Christian⁴ school.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Three adults and three 9-year-old children lost their lives. Police then fatally shot the 28-year-old who killed them. President Joe Biden expressed his condolences and urged Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's heartbreaking - a family's worst nightmare. We have to do more to stop gun violence. It's ripping our communities apart.

MARTIN: Tony Gonzalez from member station WPLN in Nashville is with us now to tell us more. Good morning, Tony. What have we learned so far about what happened here?

TONY GONZALEZ, BYLINE⁵: Yeah. Well, we've seen some surveillance video now. It shows the shooter apparently⁶ breaking into the school by shooting through some locked glass doors. The police have not shared a motive, but they have been gathering⁷ a lot of information about the shooter, who was a former student at that school, Covenant⁸ School. Police identified the shooter as Audrey Hale and say the shooter used he/him pronouns. The police and FBI agents - they spent hours at the house where Hale lived, also spoke⁹ with his father. Nashville Police Chief John Drake calls all of this a targeted attack that was calculated and planned.

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JOHN DRAKE: We have a manifesto¹⁰. We have some writings that we're going over that pertain¹¹ to this day, the actual incident. We have a map drawn¹² out of how this was all going to take place.

GONZALEZ: The chief also says that the three guns the shooter had, including two assault rifles, appear to have been legally obtained locally here.

MARTIN: And Tony, what can you tell us about the victims?

GONZALEZ: Yeah. There are six victims. They're on a lot of minds here today. Three adult staff members, all in their 60s, were killed. One of those was the head of the school, Katherine Koonce, as well as Cynthia Peak, who we are told was a substitute teacher on campus that day, and custodian¹³ Mike Hill. The three children were 9 years old - Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The paramedics rushed them to the nearest children's hospital, but they didn't survive.

MARTIN: And how are people in Nashville reacting to all of this?

GONZALEZ: A lot of fear - I mean, dread¹⁴, you know, that pit of the stomach feeling when the news broke. Also, anguish¹⁵ and anger - there was anger during the day. People are also trying to, I think, show some kind of resilience. There were multiple vigils that took place. We expect more of those today.

Nashville's mayor - that's John Cooper - he had a lot of praise for the first responders who got to the school. They rushed in, tried to save lives. But he was also pretty frank about it that, you know, the city is now on this list of places that have had to experience a mass shooting inside a school.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN COOPER: Guns are quick. They don't give you much time. So even in a remarkably¹⁶ fast response, there was not enough time. And those guns stole precious lives from us today in Nashville.

GONZALEZ: There's also a local relief fund that has been set up for the Covenant School.

MARTIN: Tony, before we let you go, as briefly¹⁷ as you can - did the school take measures to keep students safe? What do we know about that?

GONZALEZ: Yeah, I mean, there's not a lot known about that yet. This is a private Christian school. There's no school resource officer there. But we have learned that they did perform active shooter drills and that after the initial incident began, it sounds like some people were able to escape outside to a nearby tree line.

MARTIN: That's Tony Gonzalez from WPLN in Nashville. Tony, thank you.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

8 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

11 pertain   

v.(to)附属，从属；关于；有关；适合，相称

参考例句：

• His remark did not pertain to the question.他的话同这个问题不相干。
• It does not pertain to you to instruct him.你不适合教训他。

12 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

13 custodian   

n.保管人，监护人；公共建筑看守

参考例句：

• Benitez believes his custodian is among the top five in world football.贝尼特斯坚信他的门将是当今足坛最出色的五人之一。
• When his father died his uncle became his legal custodian.他父亲死后，他叔叔成了他的法定监护人。

14 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

15 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

16 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

17 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。