‘It Has to Stop': Suburban Chicago School Places 6 Empty Desks Outside After Nashville Shooting

On the side of the road outside a Burr Ridge middle school Wednesday sat six empty desks with a poignant message

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On the side of the road outside a Burr Ridge middle school Wednesday sat six empty desks.

Next to them, the electronic sign for Pleasantdale Middle School read the names of the victims in a deadly school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

"It has to stop!" the message read.

"The purpose of placing empty desks in front of our school is to spark conversations about school safety," Pleasantdale School District 107 wrote on social media alongside images of the scene.

Six victims were killed at The Covenant School in Nashville, including three 9-year-old children, the school’s top administrator, a substitute teacher and a custodian.

The three children were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney. The three adults killed were Cynthia Peak, age 61, Katherine Koonce, age 60, and Mike Hill, age 61.

Monday's violence at the private Presbyterian school is the latest school shooting to roil the nation.

The attack comes as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.

Already this year, Republican lawmakers have introduced bills that would make it easier to arm teachers and allow college students to carry weapons on campus. Democratic-led efforts to strengthen gun safety measures have faltered. On Tuesday, lawmakers delayed taking up any of the contentious gun related bills, saying they wanted to offer respect to the community.

Pleasantdale's message wouldn't be the first time empty desks have been set outside as a message and a tribute following a mass school shooting. Similar scenes were reported at schools across the U.S. following the Uvalde massacre last year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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