According to authorities, they received calls that there was an active shooter at the Covenant School at 10:13 a.m. CT. Authorities believe she entered the school through a “side entrance” on the school’s first floor.

“The police department response was swift,” Don Aaron, a police spokesperson, told the press. “They heard shots coming from the second level. They immediately went to the gunfire. When the officers got to the second level, they saw a shooter, a female, who was firing. The officers engaged her. She was fatally shot by responding police officers.”

Aaron explained that five police officers approached the shooter, who authorities later identified as Audrey Hale, and two opened fire on her.

“By 10:27 the shooter was deceased,” Aaron said, NBC News reported. The names and ages of the three students and three staff members killed haven’t been released.

Firefighters helped the other students at school during the attack as swiftly as possible, hoping to spare them from seeing the tragedy.

“We were on scene to help them mitigate anyone from seeing exactly what else was going on,” fire department spokesperson Kendra Loney shared. “But we’re sure they heard the chaos surrounding this.”