Housed inside Covenant Presbyterian Church, The Covenant School serves preschoolers through sixth graders. On Tuesday morning, a mound of teddy bears and flowers placed by mourners rested by the entrance.
Hallie, another child killed in the shooting, was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, a pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church.
She was the youngest and the only daughter out of the Scruggs’ four children, said Mark Davis, senior pastor at Park Cities Presbyterian Church, where Scruggs used to work.
“She held her own against three boys,” Davis said with a laugh. “She was always just a radiant little girl. And that radiance, I believe, was Jesus in her.”
Hill, 61, the school custodian, was a “sweet man” who was called Big Mike, according to a former Covenant pastor.
“He loved the kids in the school,” Jim Bachmann said, adding that Hill was like a father figure to them. “The kids loved him too.”
Bachmann said Hill was sometimes a greeter for church services at Stephens Valley Church in Nashville, where Bachmann is now the senior pastor.
“When he was greeting, he dressed just like he was going to meet the president,” Bachmann said, adding Hill would wear a suit and tie and his shoes polished.
Bachmann’s wife, Kristen, added that Hill would stop what he was doing and give you a hug as soon as you walked in the door.
“Because that’s how he treated everybody,” she said.
Hill’s family said in a statement that Hill was the father of seven children and had 14 grandchildren. The statement said they “are so grateful that Michael was beloved by the faculty and students who filled him with joy for 14 years.”