Nashville School Shooter Planned to Hit Other Targets, Police Believe

Officials have identified the suspect in Monday's Nashville Christian school shooting incident as 28-year-old Audrey Hale as Nashville Police released surveillance footage, seen above, on March 28, 2023. Nashville Police Department

The shooter who killed six people including three children at a Christian private school in Nashville planned to strike other targets, according to police.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake told CBS News on Tuesday that 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who on Monday stormed into The Covenant School and went on a killing rampage before responding officers fatally wounded her, had other targets.

“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. “And that just did not happen.”

Police earlier said that Hale’s attack was “calculated and planned,” including a detailed map of the school showing potential entry points, and that she conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre.

Hale was heavily armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a 9 millimeter handgun and a “significant” amount of ammunition, police said. A search warrant executed at her home uncovered more evidence, including a sawed-off shotgun.

Officials have identified the suspect in Monday's Nashville Christian school shooting incident as 28-year-old Audrey Hale as Nashville Police released surveillance footage, seen above, on March 28, 2023. Nashville Police Department

‘Emotional Disorder’

Authorities do not yet have a clear motive for the shooting but Drake told NBC News that investigators believed the shooting stemmed from “some resentment” Hale harbored “for having to go to that school” when she was younger.

Speaking at a news conference, Drake said Hale “was under doctors’ care for an emotional disorder ... law enforcement knew nothing about the treatment she was receiving.” Drake did not elaborate on the disorder or the care, or if she was taking any medication.

When asked about whether she posed a danger to others beforehand and how she came into possession of firearms, Drake said, “As it stands we had no idea who this person was or if she existed.”

Her parents were not aware that she owned firearms, but Drake said that it was learned after the shooting that she was “hiding several weapons” in her parents’ house.

Hale legally purchased “seven firearms from five different gun stores” in Nashville, Drake said.

“We also don’t have a motive at this time,” Drake added. “We feel that the students that were targeted were randomly targeted. There was not any particular student that she was looking for at the time.”

Children from The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tenn., hold hands as they are taken to a reunification site at the Woodmont Baptist Church after a deadly shooting at their school on March 27, 2023. Jonathan Mattise/AP Photo

Body Camera Footage Released

The Nashville police chief said that, when officers arrived, they noted that Hale may have had “some training” on how to shoot a firearm.

Drake said Hale also stood away from the glass from an upper level of the school to conceal herself as she fired at officers, adding that she did so as to not become “an easy target.”

Police officers encountered Hale in the common area on the second floor of the school, from where she had fired through a window at arriving police cars.

“Two members of an officer team fired on Hale and fatally wounded her,” the MNPD said in a statement. “Those two officers are Officer Rex Englebert, a four-year MNPD veteran, and Officer Michael Collazo, a nine-year MNPD veteran.”

Videos of the shooting have been released, including edited surveillance footage that shows the shooter’s car driving up to the school, glass doors being shot out, and the shooter entering.

Additional video from Engelbert’s body camera shows officers climbing stairs to the second floor and entering a lobby area.

“Move in,” an officer yells. Then a barrage of gunfire is heard. “Get your hands away from the gun,” an officer yells twice. Then the shooter is shown motionless on the floor.

Body camera footage of police responding to an active shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27, 2023. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department via AP

Manifesto

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) has called on police to publicly release a manifesto allegedly written by Hale, who identified as transgender.

Speaking to Fox News late on Monday, Burchett said, “Our trans youth are troubled.”

“If they don’t get the help they need they can grow up to have some serious issues, but I obviously don’t believe they’ll all grow up to be shooters like this,” he said.

“We need to know what was going through this person’s head, and the manifesto should be made public.”

Drake said on Monday that Hale was born female and identified as transgender.

Hale’s mother, who was reached by phone by ABC News, said, “I think I lost my daughter today.”

Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.