Police announced Monday that transgender shooter Audrey Hale had been planning an attack on the Christian elementary school for “months,” according to a press release.
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) gave an update to the investigation into the mass shooting at Covenant School in a press release, noting that Hale’s manifesto indicated that she had been “planning over a period of months to commit mass murder.” Hale had also been studying the way other “mass murderers” had committed acts of violence and “acted totally alone,” according to police. (RELATED: Chilling Nashville Shooting 911 Calls Reveal Terror During Massacre)
“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,” police said in the press release. “The writings remain under careful review by the MNPD and the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. 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.”
NASHVILLE, TN – MARCH 29: Pictures of the victims killed in a mass shooting on Monday at The Covenant School are fixed to a memorial by Noah Reich (left) and David Maldonado from the non-profit Classroom of Compassion, near the school on March 29, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Seth Herald/Getty Images)
Hale, who used male pronouns and occasionally went by the name Aiden, entered Covenant School on March 27 and shot three children and three adult staff members, who were pronounced dead at the scene. Bodycam footage showed MNPD arriving minutes after the shooting began and later shooting Hale.
MNPD confirmed that the FBI’s Homicide and Behavioral Analysis Units were continuing to study the “writings” to determine a motive, according to the press release. Police also found that Hale had fired 152 rounds during the shooting and officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo fired four 5.56 rounds from a rifle and four rounds from a department-issued nine-millimeter pistol, respectively.
Nashville city council member Robert Swope told the Daily Caller News Foundation last week that Hale’s writings would be released after the FBI concluded its analysis. An MNPD spokesperson told the DNCF that the case was currently still “open” and as a result, the department could not disclose whether or not the manifesto would be given to the public at a future date.
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