Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) said two of the teachers killed in the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville were longtime family friends.
In a video shared on Twitter, Lee said that Cynthia Peak will have dinner with her husband, Maria Lee, on Monday night.
But Peak died while teaching at the school. Principal Katherine Koonce, also shot to death, was a friend of many years, he added.
“Maria woke up this morning without her best friend, Cindy Peak,” the GOP governor said. “Cindy and Maria and Katherine Koonce are all teachers at the same school and have been family friends for decades.”
Lee mourned the victims of the “horrific act of violence” by, according to police, a 28-year-old transgender former student who was shot dead by officers.
School custodian Michael Hill and 9-year-old students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney were also killed in what Lee called an “unfathomable tragedy.”
Lee admitted it was a “very difficult time” but suggested now was not the time for violence.
“I understand the pain, I understand the desperation to have answers, to blame, to argue for solutions that could have prevented this terrible tragedy,” he said. “There will be a time to ask how people can do this. There will come a time to discuss and debate policies, but this is not the time for hate or anger. It will not resolve or heal.
“Everyone is sick. Everyone,” continued Lee. “Remembering that we are grieving and walking together will be our way of honoring those we lost. We can all agree on one thing, that every human life has great value and we will act to prevent this from happening again.
“There is a clear desire in all of us, whether we agree with the measures of action or not, that we must find a way to protect evil,” he said.
Lee did not talk about potential measures, such as gun control, in his address.
However, he urged people to pray for all those affected by the massacre.
“Prayer is the first thing to do, but not the only thing,” he said, saying that law enforcement and education officials have been working “for years” to strengthen school security, adding that it is a struggle “against evil itself. “