'Amazing' police response to Nashville shooting leaves even skeptical media in 'awe'

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Montage: Nashville police response wins widespread media praise

The quick response of Nashville police officers to the shooting at The Covenant Christian school has prompted praise and gratitude from the press.

Police and law enforcement personnel have come in for a thrashing in national media in recent years, with headlines and discussion dominated by stories like officer-involved shootings, the murder of George Floyd, the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, and the maligned response to the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

So when police quickly responded to and killed the mass shooter at the Covenant School this week, the emphatic media praise was noteworthy.

"Thess officers, in essence, resurrected the profession," Fox News contributor and former homicide detective Ted Williams told Fox News Digital. "You can see when you're looking at the video that these officers in Nashville are well-trained, well-prepared, and they put their own lives on the line to bring this killer to justice."

"This may be the linchpin that puts police officers in a different light than what we saw with the George Floyd case, where you had a police officer with his knee on Floyd's neck," Williams said. "What we saw in Nashville is what goes on around this country where police officers and the work that they do that is [often] not seen by the public… we were able to see police officers acting expeditiously to bring all this shooter down. So I am elated that law enforcement officers are getting the recognition that they so well deserve."

The rapid response of Nashville police officers to the shooting at the private Christian academy has prompted praise and gratitude from mainstream and liberal media members, who have described the cops as "heroes," with one network anchor saying she was in "awe."

Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo neutralized the killer, who had already murdered six people, including three children.

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CBS News anchor Gayle King paused CBS Mornings’ coverage of the shooting on Wednesday to praise the two police officers who were shown on "riveting" bodycam footage.

Bodycamera footage shows Nashville Police Department officers responding to the Covenant School in Nashville after 28-year-old Audrey Hale opened fire.  (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)

"I think we have to say something about those police officers," King said. "There’s been so much negativity about police officers in the news and just on the air. These two officers, Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo – if you haven’t looked at that three-minute video that has been released, it’s riveting." 

"My heart started racing because these guys clearly had a system. As soon as they heard gunfire, they ran to the gunfire… There was no hesitation, knowing that their lives were in jeopardy, and I think the majority of the police officers behave the way those two do." 

She added, "And it shows the important work that they do. I’m in awe."

"That is what courage is," fellow CBS host Tony Dokoupil said.

Retired Seattle police chief and MSNBC law enforcement analyst Carmen Best described the department's quick response as the "very opposite" of the response to the horrific mass shooting in Uvalde. Although the situations had some key differences, the Uvalde police have been fiercely criticized for not directly confronting the killer there for more than hour.

"We saw officers immediately responding to the scene, setting up contact teams, entering the building – by the way, under a barrage of bullets coming out from the school," Best said. "They went through and checked the school. When they heard where the shots were coming from, [they] immediately went to that location and ultimately ended the threat."

CBS anchor Gayle King said she was in "awe" of the Nashville police. (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images)

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MSNBC anchor Jose Diaz-Balart agreed with the retired law enforcement officer’s assessment that the Nashville response was much quicker than the police response to Uvalde. 

"They didn’t stop. They went right after their target," he said.

While covering the shooting on Tuesday, CNN reporter Amara Walker aired the bodycam footage showing the cops taking out the killer, and said the officers "truly are heroes."

During NBC Nightly News coverage of the shooting Tuesday night, anchor Lester Holt praised the officer’s quick response. He initially described their heroism, stating that "first responding police officers braved gunfire, entered the school, and advanced from room to room, locating and fatally shooting the suspect."

Later in NBC’s coverage, he commented it was "amazing how fast those officers moved into that school."

Even satire websites got in on the action; the right-leaning Babylon Bee posted a joke article about Vladimir Putin surrendering in the Ukraine war after Nashville police were air-dropped into the conflict.

Coupled with a spike in violent crime, policing has been under the microscope like no other time in recent memory over the past decade, leading officers to exit the profession in unprecedented numbers. While the horrific tragedy in Nashville overshadows their heroism, the incident was a rare moment of positivity for police.

Officer Rex Engelbert, third from left, was among a group of Central Precinct officers recognized last week with a "Central Precinct Commander’s Coin for their hard work and dedication to precision policing."  (Metro Nashville Police Department)

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Metro Nashville Chief of Police John Drake appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday and recounted the officers' bravery.

"They trained for that. And this moment happened, and they didn’t hesitate at all," he said.

ABC News contributor John Cohen, a veteran police training expert, said the police there did "exactly what we hope those who put on the badge will do when they confront a dangerous situation like an active shooter."

"Whenever cops screw up we never hear end of it. Sometimes rightfully so. But let's just make sure heroic actions of @MNPDNashville is talked about just as loudly," tweeted Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy. "Running without hesitation into active shooter situation is hero s--t. Thanks to all officers who risked their lives."

Former FBI agent James Gagliano called the police performance a model for the rest of the nation.

"The police response to a lethal active shooter in Nashville was an absolute ‘textbook example’ of how law enforcement is expected to move swiftly and proficiently to interdict evil-doers who seek to murder innocents," Gagliano told Fox News Digital. "Let’s hope this serves as the template for any future response efforts and mutes the activist ‘noise’ from those who continually seek to demonize, smear, and defund our heroic first responders."

Fraternal Order of Police National Vice President Joe Gamaldi called the public support "very encouraging" and also added a reminder to those who still support so-called defunding of the police, a pet project of the far-left that has 

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"It was a stark reminder to the public of the courage of the brave men and women of law enforcement. That we will willingly run towards the gunfire, towards the danger, to protect our communities," he told Fox News Digital. "This event was also a reminder to every fool who advocates to defund the police or ‘reallocate’ funding away from police departments, that they are advocating to cut the very training, equipment, and heroic officers who saved countless lives."

Fox News' Brian Flood and Cortney O'Brien contributed to this report.