Hero Nashville cop who took down transgender school shooter is Marine Corps vet

The hero cops who stopped a transgender school shooter in Nashville are a Marine Corps veteran and an award-winning officer. 

Michael Collazo, 31, and Rex Engelbert, 27, of the Nashville Metro Police, have been hailed heroes after taking down Audrey Hale, 28, on Monday after she had shot and killed six at The Covenant School.

Hale opened fire inside the small, church-run private elementary school on the outskirts of the city shortly before 10.13am. Dramatic bodycam footage showed Englebert and Collazo shooting her dead by 10.27am. 

Collazo is a Marine Corps veteran who responded to the Christmas 2020 bombing, which also took place in Nashville, where Anthony Quinn Warner detonated a bomb downtown, killing himself and injuring eight others. 

Collazo, a nine-year veteran of the force, is also a former firefighter and has previously served as a SWAT team paramedic. He has a young daughter, according to Fox News. 

Engelbert received an award last week for ‘precision policing’ for his work recovering more than 20 stolen credit cards, a handgun, and fentanyl

Englebert (left) fired first with his rifle, striking her. Collazo then approached her body to strip it of weapons and checked if shooter Audrey Hale was still alive on Monday 

The Nashville native had joined the Marine Corps directly out of high school and is said to have relied on his military training throughout the active shooter situation, his older sister Deanna Collazo DeHart told Fox News. 

‘He really does love his job. When I sit and think about all the training and all the different classes that he does, and all the family events that he’s had to miss because of training or leaving to go through this training or this class… it all really does pay off,’ she said. 

‘[He’s] obviously very brave, braver than I’ve ever imagined,’ she said. ‘To see the bravery of all of them just storming and clearing the rooms is absolutely phenomenal.’ 

Engelbert, a four-year veteran, was one of the first officers on the scene and deployed the precision shots that took initially took Hale down. Officer Collazo, a nine-year veteran of the force, approached with a handgun next, firing another four shots while Hale flailed on the ground, before approaching her body and stripping it of weapons.

Engelbert received an award last week for ‘precision policing’ for his work recovering more than 20 stolen credit cards, a handgun, and fentanyl, Fox News reported. 

‘These seizures took two dangerous felons who had multiple outstanding warrants off the streets of downtown Nashville,’ the Central Precinct said. ‘We are so thankful for their dedication to keeping our city safe.’ 

Hale is shown after being gunned down by police on the second floor of The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, yesterday

After shooting her dead, the officers approached Hale. Her weapons are clearly shown, along with what appears to be an armored vest 

Hale was born female but had recently begun using he/him pronouns and the name ‘Aiden’

Experts have praised the responding officers’ perfect precision, saying the bodycam footage looks like a ‘training video.’ 

‘Look at the minute they heard shots fired. What did they say? “Shots fired! Shots fired! Move! Move! Move!” They went faster. Rifles first. They’re in there, patting each other on the back. They’re doing all the right things to encourage each other, knowing they’re putting themselves in harm’s way, running toward gunshots, to stop that shooter,’ National Police Associated spokesperson Betsy Brantner Smith told Fox News. 

‘The National Police Association is so incredibly proud of these police officers, and we’re also proud of the other 750,000 officers who go out every single day and do what these men and women did in the Nashville Police department.’ 

From their arrival at the school at around 10.22am, it took the officers five minutes to find Hale and kill her.

By then, she had already managed to murder three nine-year-old children and three staff members.

Students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all nine, and staff members Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, both 61, and school head Katherine Koonce, 60 were killed. 

The transgender shooter harbored a ‘resentment’ about having to attend the school as a child herself.

Hale was believed to have been living as a transgender man called Aiden using he/him pronouns. 

Hallie Scruggs, who died in the attack, is seen with her father Chad Scruggs, the pastor at the Presbyterian church affiliated with the school. 

Will Kinney, (pictured) and Evelyn Dieckhaus, both nine, were shot and killed on Monday. Dieckhaus’s family said she died trying to save her friends

Substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, (right) is shown with her daughter Ellie. Peak was one of six people shot to death at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on March 27, 2023

Katherine Koonce, head of school (left), and Mike Hill, a custodian (right) were among those shot dead by Audrey Hale

She shot and killed head teacher Dr. Katherine Koonce in the hallway in an ‘assassination’ style killing, in addition to shooting church custodian Mike Hill and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak. 

Hale also murdered three nine-year-old students; Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney and Evelyn Dieckhaus.

It’s unclear whether she targeted those children or their class.

Before driving to the school, she messaged a friend on Instagram telling them: ‘I’m planning to die today. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!

‘You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.

‘This is my last goodbye. I love you. ‘See you again in another life.’

‘Audrey (Aiden).’