Nashville Police Officers Michael Collazo and Rex Engelbert have been recognized as heroes for stopping school shooter Audrey Hale, who claimed six lives at The Covenant School before being neutralized. The officers were captured on dramatic bodycam footage as they entered the school and confronted Hale.
Collazo, a nine-year police veteran and Marine Corps veteran, was previously a first responder at the 2020 bombing that injured eight in Nashville, Fox News reported. His sister, Deanne Collazo DeHart, said, "[He's] obviously very brave, braver than I ever imagined," and added, "He really does love his job." The 31-year-old Nashville native served as a SWAT team paramedic, according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
In 2020, Collazo responded to a bombing carried out by Anthony Quinn Warner, a 63-year-old conspiracy theorist who detonated a bomb in his RV on Christmas Day. The explosion killed Warner, damaged numerous downtown buildings, and disrupted power across large portions of Nashville.
Engelbert, a four-year veteran of the police department, was one of the first officers at the scene on Monday. Just a week prior, he received a department commendation for "precision policing" following two successful busts that recovered dozens of stolen credit cards and confiscated a handgun, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. In a statement on Thursday, the department expressed gratitude for the officers' commitment to keeping the city safe.
The officers' quick and efficient response to the school shooting was so exemplary that one expert referred to the bodycam footage as "a training video." Betsy Brantner Smith, a veteran police trainer and spokesperson for the National Police Association, commended the officers' actions, saying, "What did they say? 'Shots fired! Shots fired! Move, move move!' They went faster, rifles first."
Smith continued, "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."
The 28-year-old shooter, Audrey Hale, who was transgender, was shot and killed by the two officers.