The director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation defended prayers as a coping mechanism for a school shooting in Nashville on Monday.
Police say 28-year-old Audrey Hale shot and killed six people – three nine-year-olds and three adults in their 60s – at Covenant School in Nashville. Hale was reportedly a former student at the private Christian institution. She was shot and killed by police.
The shooter’s motives are unknown at this time
During a press conference, David Rausch, who heads the TBI, called for prayers in the wake of the shooting because “that’s the way we do that in the South.”
Rausch spoke immediately after Nashville’s chief of police.
“Again I want to echo what chief has said in reference to the great support and the great teamwork that has been taking place here and, as well as sending our heartfelt prayers to the families, to this community of these victims,” Rausch began. “Now, I know there’ll be people who want to criticize us for prayers. But that’s the way we do that in the South, right? We believe in prayer and we believe in the power of prayer. And so, our prayers go out to these families.”
Expressing “thoughts and prayers” is common among public officials in the wake of mass shootings. However, as Rausch’s comments indicate, such expressions are often maligned as an immaterial and ineffective reaction to the horrific phenomenon of regular mass shootings in the United States.
After one such spree at a Walmart in Virginia last year, the state senator representing the district said she was fed up with the condolences.
“I don’t want to hear any more about thoughts and prayers!” she exclaimed.
