Police Reveal New Details About Nashville School Assailant Audrey Hale

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

Audrey Hale planned her attack on The Covenant Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, for months before it occurred on March 27, police said on Monday.

“In the collective writings by Hale found in her vehicle in the school parking lot, and others later found in the bedroom of her home, she documented, in journals, her planning over a period of months to commit mass murder at The Covenant School,” said the Metro Nashville Police Department in a statement.

In the mass shooting, Hale killed three 9-year-old children and three adults who worked at the the Covenant School. Responding officers shot and killed Hale minutes after a school official called 911.

Police also said in a release that the 28-year-old “considered the actions of other mass murderers.” Hale, who used transgender pronouns, fired 152 rounds from two rifles and a pistol, they said.

The Nashville Police Department said the writings will be “under careful review by the MNPD and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia,” according to Monday’s release. “The motive for Hale’s actions has not been established and remains under investigation by the Homicide Unit in consultation with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.”

It’s not clear when those writings will be released. Previously, Nashville police officials said that Hale left behind a manifesto but did not elaborate on the contents.

“The manifesto is going to be released. It’s just a matter of when,” Nashville Councilman Robert Swope told the New York Post last week. Last week,  Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters that the manifesto includes writings about the shooting, a map of the school, and writings of other locations.

In a news conference, Drake said that Hale was suffering from mental health issues and was under a doctor’s care for an emotional disorder. Her parents did not know that she had multiple weapons hidden in the house, Drake added.

He said that the police department “knew nothing” about her treatment but that “her parents felt she should not own weapons.” Hale was not on the police force’s radar before the shooting, Drake said.

A man holds a large cross in front of The Covenant School in Nashville on Thursday, March 31, four days after six were killed in a mass shooting at the school. Mourners observe the makeshift memorial at the school’s entrance. Chase Smith/The Epoch Times

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.

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

Last week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Peak was a close friend of his wife, Maria, and that the two had been scheduled to have dinner after Peak taught that day.

Initially, police gave unclear information on Hale’s gender. For hours, police identified the suspect 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.” A LinkedIn profile showed that she used “he/him” pronouns, while an Instagram page showed she used the name “Aiden.”

Following the mass shooting incident, pro-transgender protesters appeared at the Kentucky Capitol building as some planned a “Transgender Day of Vengeance” in Washington, which was later canceled. The Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN), the left-wing organizers of the demonstration, said that the event in front of the U.S. Supreme Court will not take place.

The protests drew condemnation from some conservatives. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote last week that “Trans Day of Vengeance” represented the “threat of Antifa-driven trans-terrorism” in light of the Nashville shooting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.