Jill Biden attends Nashville shooting vigil

By Arlette Saenz, CNN

First lady Dr. Jill Biden traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, Wednesday to attend a vigil honoring the lives lost in the mass shooting at The Covenant School.

The first lady first made an unannounced stop to lay flowers at a memorial for the six victims near the Christian school. She slowly walked through the site looking at photos of the three children and three staff members killed in Monday’s shooting.

The first lady’s visit marked the first in-person overture from the White House to the grieving community. It holds additional significance given Dr. Biden’s lifelong work as an educator.

“Following her visit to Ohio today to meet with military families, the First Lady will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to join a candlelight vigil to honor and mourn the lives of the victims of The Covenant School shooting,” Biden spokesperson Vanessa Valdivia said in a tweet announcing the visit.

Hours after the school shooting took place, the first lady said, “I am truly without words, and our children deserve better. And we stand, all of us, we stand with Nashville in prayer.”

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said the White House was working through what kind of visit “helps the most.” President Biden has spoken with local officials, including Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Nashville Mayor John Cooper, Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, and Nashville Police Chief John Drake. The president also spoke with the two officers who charged into the school and killed the shooter — Metro Police Officers Michael Collazo and Rex Engelbert.

The first lady has traveled to the sites of mass shootings in the past, including meeting with families who lost children in the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last May. She has also reflected on what teachers and students endure at a time when active shooter training has become standard practice in many schools.

“As a teacher, I’ve imagined that scene in my own classroom, again and again,” Dr. Biden said last year at the National Parent Teachers Association’s 125th Anniversary Convention. “At the start of each semester, I’m sure all of you in here who are teachers do this, you explain to your students on the first day a path, a pathway, to get out if a shooter comes into the school so that they’re prepared.”

“I explain it to my students because, you know, they need to know what they should do if the worst happens,” she said.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

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