Official Issues Major Update on Nashville Shooting Manifesto

Audrey Hale points a gun inside the Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2023. Nashville Police Department via The Epoch Times

The manifesto written by the woman who shot up a school in Tennessee will be released to the public, a Nashville official says.

“The manifesto is going to be released. It’s just a matter of when,” Nashville Councilman Robert Swope told the New York Post.

Audrey Hale, 28, left behind a manifesto, Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters this week after Hale was identified as the woman who carried out a mass shooting at The Covenant School in the city.

The manifesto includes writings about the shooting that was carried out, a map of the school, and words regarding several other locations, Drake has said.

Presented with Swope’s comments, a Nashville Police Department spokeswoman said that the manifesto is part of an open investigation.

“It’s part of open investigation, so at this point I don’t know when or if it will be released,” the spokeswoman told The Epoch Times.

The spokeswoman said that, typically, once an investigation is closed, interested parties can submit public records requests for documents that were part of the investigation.

Swope, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, told the Post that FBI behavioral analysis experts and Nashville police employees are conducting “a very in-depth analysis of certain aspects of the shooter’s life.”

Nashville police officials have said that officers and FBI agents are poring over the evidence in the case, including the manifesto.

As of now, that evidence doesn’t show that there were issues with Hale at home or at the school she attended when she was younger.

“As of right now, we don’t have any indication there was any problems at the school or at home,” Drake told CNN. “We can’t confirm any type of problems at this time.”

Audrey Hale in an undated image. Nashville Police Department via The Epoch Times

Taken Down

Hale arrived at the Christian school at 9:54 a.m. on March 27 before making her way inside, video footage released by the police shows.

Hale, dressed in camouflage pants, tennis shoes, a white shirt, and wearing a bulletproof vest and a red cap, was wielding an AR-style rifle, with another gun at her side.

Police body camera footage shows officers rushing to find the shooter and ultimately taking her down, after she had murdered six people, including three children.

The motive for Hale, who identified as male in recent years and was being treated for an emotional disorder, hasn’t yet been discerned, officials say. Hale wrote in text messages to a friend before the shooting that she planned to die.

Other Targets

Drake has said that the manifesto included additional targets that Hale was examining.

“We strongly believe there was going to be some other targets, including maybe family members, and one of the malls here in Nashville,” Drake said during an appearance on CBS.

Swope told the Post that Hale looked at two other schools but decided “the security was too great to do what she wanted to do.”

“So she chose a private Christian school, for, probably the reason is that the security is a whole lot less,” Swope said.