‘CALL IT FATE’

Cop Recalls Stepping Over Bodies as He Hunted Down Nashville School Shooter

The officer who shot the suspect, Audrey Hale, said he wasn’t even supposed to be at the scene.

Three cops who responded to the Nashville school shooting spoke publicaly Tuesday, recounting in vivid, grueling detail the moments that led up to the suspect being gunned down. “I really had no business being where I was,” said Officer Rex Engelbert, who fired fatal shots at the shooter. Engelbert said he wasn’t supposed to be at the scene and was actually on his way to the police academy to do admin work when he heard to call for service. “You can call it fate or God or whatever you want,” he said. “I can’t count on my hands the irregularities that put me in that position.” Detective Sgt. Jeff Mathes said Engelbert was a complete stranger to him when they both stormed the building in search of the shooter. “I had never seen Rex in my life,” Mathes said. “When we got there, he had already unlocked the door. Not knowing what I was going into, I walked through that door without hesitation.” Upon entering the school, Mathes recounted having to step over victims’ bodies as they desperately searched for the shooter. “I, to this day, don’t know how I did that morally,” he said. “But training is what kicked in.”