Nashville school shooting – live: Evelyn Dieckhaus called ‘shining light’ as first funeral takes place

“There’s not one person in America who doesn’t want to try to solve all this,” the Speaker of the House said on Thursday when asked about the GOP’s plans to deal with mass shootings. “We want to make sure we’re taking all the information.”

And he added: “I would say to the nation as a whole that the problem that we [have] today, it’s not just going to be legislation. We’ve got to have a severe conversation here with this country. We’ve got to deal with mental illness.”

Mr McCarthy continued later, “I don’t think one piece of legislation solves this. I think a nation together, working together, solves a problem that’s much bigger than us.”

A Tennessee lawmaker who said that gun violence cannot “be fixed” by politicians has now called for a “revival” in the wake of the Nashville shooting.

Congressman Tim Burchett made his latest comments on Fox News after being heavily criticised for his immediate comments after the Covenant School killings.

“As I’ve stated, we’re a sick nation,” he said. “We need to repent and, honestly, we need a revival. It’s made a lot of people mad that I’ve said that, but it really is. There’s no other answer for it.”

And he blamed the reaction to his comments on people not liking the “thoughts and prayers” response often given by Republicans after mass shootings in the US

“I think they come back to me and say, ‘Look what your prayers have done for us,’ and the people doing the praying aren’t the ones doing the shooting.”

First lady Jill Biden and singer Sheryl Crow stood before hundreds in Nashville as mourners held candles, prayed and shared their frustration at yet another deadly school shooting on American soil, writes Sheila Flynn from Tennessee.

Nashville authorities released the recordings on Thursday.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has slammed fellow congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comments blaming gender-affirming care for Monday’s events in Nashville.

Almost immediately after the story broke, Ms Greene pointed to the shooter’s supposed gender identity in a series of tweets as malicious as they were illiterate.

“How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking,” the Georgia Republican tweeted. “Everyone can stop blaming guns now.”

Responding after a House vote on Monday evening, Ms Ocasio-Cortez justly slammed the remarks.

“It’s absolutely disgusting and she should be looking into a mirror as to why she’s defending and posing with the same weapons that are being used to kill children, teachers and educators,” she told The Independent.

Eric Garcia has more.

Funeral arrangements were disclosed for one of the adults and two of the children who were killed in this week’s school shooting in Nashville, as the grieving city mourns the victims of the horrific attack that transformed what should have been a normal day of school on a bright, sunny morning into wrenching tragedy.

Heartbreaking new details continued to emerge about the lives of the three adults and three 9-year-old students who police say were killed during the shooting Monday at The Covenant School.

The children have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. Also killed were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school; Mike Hill, 61, a custodian; and Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher.

More on the funeral service for the victims in this report: