Firefighters attend the scene of a house explosion that injured several people, destroyed one home and damaged others in Calgary on Monday, March 27, 2023. A leader in Calgary’s South Sudanese community says efforts will be made to provide financial help to 10 people seriously injured in a house explosion. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

By Bill Graveland in Calgary

A leader in Calgary’s South Sudanese community says efforts are to be made to provide financial help to 10 people seriously injured in a house explosion.

The blast Monday destroyed one home, damaged several others and left part of the roof from the house that blew up in a yard across the street in the neighbourhood east of downtown.

Calgary Emergency Medical Services has said all the victims were adults, and that six of them had life-threatening injuries and four were seriously hurt.

Community advocate Gar Gar said it appears all of the victims were from South Sudan. Gar said he and some of the victims’ family members met at one of the hospitals where the injured were taken.

“I met a son who came to the hospital and went in and saw his dad and you could see the tears in his eyes. That sounds like it’s related to something that he saw and the shape is father is in,” Gar said Tuesday.

“There are family members, cousins, uncles and their nephews and nieces. Eventually, those will be the houses that some of them, when they get out of the hospital, might also be hoping to get back in.”

The fire department said the force of the explosion created “a large debris field” and several fires. A tangle of what appeared to be charred beams, pink insulation and splintered wood could be seen where the house once stood.

Homes on either side were charred and one had a shattered window. A tree in front had a piece of plywood and other debris stuck in it.

Gar said after hearing about the explosion and seeing its aftermath, he can’t believe there have been no deaths so far.

“To hear that they’re still fighting for their lives and some of them are stable — that by itself is a miracle and we give thanks for the responders who came in and took them so quick,” he said.

“Back home, we would probably have been talking about something different.”

Gar said if all 10 victims were living inside the home, he wants to know why.

“That’s certainly something we are asking when we get more details to see what kept 10 people in one house. Is that affordability issues or is that simply because we’re seeing the homelessness coming into the South Sudanese community?”

Gar said community members will be meeting with the families Tuesday to see about setting up a crowdfunding page.

“Basically they lost everything in one blink of an eye. They’re fighting not to lose their lives,” Gar said.

“We’re hoping to rally around those families and the community to come together and to support them where we can.”

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023.

Families leave a reunification site in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, March 27, 2023 after several children were killed in a shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. The suspect is dead after a confrontation with police. (AP Photo/John Amis)

NASHVILLE (AP) — Six people were killed at a small, private Christian school just south of downtown Nashville on Monday after a shooter opened fire inside the building containing about 200 students, police said.

Police received a call about an active shooter at The Covenant School — a Presbyterian school — around 10:15 a.m. Authorities said that about 15 minutes after that call to police, the shooter was dead. The remaining students were ferried to a safe location to be reunited with their parents.

Here’s what we know and don’t know about the shooting:

HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE KILLED?

Nashville police said six people, including three students, were killed. The victims were identified as Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; Mike Hill, 61; and Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9. Police officers also killed the shooter.

The website of The Covenant School, founded in 2001, lists a Katherine Koonce as the head of the school. Her LinkedIn profile says she has led the school since July 2016. Peak was a substitute teacher, and Hill was a custodian, according to investigators.

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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE NASHVILLE SHOOTER?

Police gave unclear information on the shooter’s gender. For hours, police identified the shooter as a 28-year-old woman and eventually as Audrey Hale. Then at a late afternoon press conference, the police chief said that Hale was transgender. After the news conference, police spokesperson Don Aaron declined to elaborate on how Hale identified.

In an email Tuesday, police spokesperson Kristin Mumford said Hale “was assigned female at birth. Hale did use male pronouns on a social media profile.”

Police said Hale was a former student of the school, but it was unclear if Hale had any current affiliation with the school or was related to anyone in the school at the time of the shooting. Police said the shooter had made a detailed map of the school and conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre.

Police said Hale had two “assault-style” weapons and a pistol when Hale shot through the front door to enter the building. At least two of them were believed to have been obtained legally in the Nashville area, police said. Investigators found a sawed-off shotgun, a second shotgun and other unspecified evidence during a search of Hale’s home.

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HOW WAS THE NASHVILLE SHOOTER KILLED?

A team of five Nashville police officers entered the school after the initial call, said Aaron, the police spokesperson. While clearing the first floor of students and staff, they heard shots being fired on the second floor.

Two of the officers opened fire in response and fatally struck Hale at about 10:27 a.m., police said.

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DO WE KNOW THE MOTIVE?

Investigators were sent to the shooter’s home shortly after Hale was killed, police said. Hale had a map of the school with a planned route for the shooting, and officers found writings, police said.

No motive has been confirmed by police, and it was also unclear if Hale was trying to target any specific person during the shooting.

Police Chief John Drake said officers found writings that detailed the plan to attack the school and potentially other locations. He said in an interview with NBC News that investigators believe the shooter had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”

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HOW MANY SCHOOL SHOOTINGS HAVE THERE BEEN SINCE COLUMBINE?

There have been 15 mass shootings at schools or universities in the U.S. since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. Mass shootings are defined as more than four people dying, not including the perpetrator, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, in addition to other AP reporting:

Of those 15 shootings, 175 people have died, the data shows.