Crime

Substitute teacher killed in Nashville school shooting was TCU alumna

Cynthia Peak was shot to death in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2023.
Cynthia Peak was shot to death in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2023. Facebook

A substitute teacher at a private elementary school in Tennessee who was among six people shot dead there on Monday studied education in the early 1980s at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Cynthia Peak, 61, was in the class of 1983, TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini wrote in a statement.

“Our prayers for peace and comfort are with her family and loved ones, as well as the entire Nashville community,” Boschini wrote.

One of the three children who were killed in the shooting at The Covenant School was the 9-year-old daughter of a former Dallas pastor.

Park Cities Presbyterian Church wrote in a statement that Chad Scruggs, the current lead pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville, was for several years an associate pastor at the Dallas church.

His daughter Hallie Scruggs was, with two other 9-year-olds, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney, among the shooting victims. Peak and two other adults — head of school Katherine Koonce, 60, and custodian Mike Hill, 61 — also were killed. Police fatally shot the suspect, Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old former student at the school.

This story was originally published March 29, 2023 at 11:22 AM.

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Emerson Clarridge
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER