The Nashville police have published their conclusive findings regarding the investigation of the 2023 Covenant School shooting carried out by Audrey Hale, who was subsequently fatally shot by the responding officers. According to the report, Audrey Hale had meticulously plotted the shooting since 2017, as evidenced by a substantial collection of notebooks and planning materials she left behind.
The final report by the Nashville police details the tragic events of the Covenant School massacre that took place in March 2023. This deliberate attack on a Christian school was executed by Audrey Hale, a transgender individual, resulting in the deaths of three children in the third grade and three adults.
Contrary to expectations of a comprehensive manifesto, the report reveals that Audrey Hale, the assailant, had a variety of notebooks, art books, and digital files outlining her intentions to carry out the attack in pursuit of fame, partially influenced by the infamous Columbine school shooting that occurred in 1999.
Hale, the 28-year-old attacker and biological female, began “fantasizing” about and researching mass shootings as far back as 2017, according to investigators. A year later, she wrote “detailed fantasies” about shooting up the Isaac T. Creswell Middle Magnet School for the Arts, killing her father and killing her psychiatrist.
To say that Audrey Hale was disturbed is a gross understatement. It’s hard to imagine how these fantasies and this deeply involved and detailed planning escaped anyone’s notice.Â
According to the Nashville police, there was no single manifesto, although one could argue that the entire body of detailed planning and general ranting makes up a sort of disjointed, disorganized manifesto in and of itself, which one might expect from someone as deeply disturbed and mentally ill as Audrey Hale.
Instead, her motives were scattered across those many notebooks and other writings, investigators found. They included an image showing more than two-dozen notebooks seized from Hale’s car and bedroom. They also said she left a suicide note addressed to her parents.
Hale killed three adults and three children in her rampage. We should remember their names: Hallie Scruggs, age 9; Evelyn Dieckhaus, age 9; William Kinney, age 9; Katherine Koonce, age 60; Cynthia Peak, age 61; and Mike Hill, age 61.
