NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The officers who rushed into The Covenant School are now receiving the Medal of Valor — the highest honor a public safety officer can receive.
Sgt. Jeffrey Mathes, Officer Rex Engelbert, and Detectives Michael Collazo, Ryan Cagle, and Zachary Plese will receive the award given by President Joe Biden.
Those Metro Nashville Police Department officers were the first on the scene of the active shooting, where they wound up killing the shooter. That day, six people died, including three 9-year-olds and three Covenant staffers in March 2023.
President Biden will present the medals on Friday afternoon.
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This story by Aaron Cantrell reminds me of my first school in Dyersburg, TN. I was a student at Bruce School from Kindergarten to second grade until the school system was integrated. My parents graduated from this K-12 school in 1960 in one of the city's African American communities. After sitting empty for several years, part of the school was demolished while the rest was renovated and now serves as a community center for the Bruce community in Dyersburg. A local pastor is now trying to do something similar in the Cemetery community in Rutherford Co.
-Lelan Statom
