Materials found during a search of Audrey Hale’s home indicated the attack was planned ‘over a period of months’
One of the weapons used in the mass shooting at The Covenant School © Getty Images / Metropolitan Nashville PD
Police found seven guns, a cache of ammunition, school memorabilia, and multiple journals, as well as a suicide note during their search of Nashville shooter Audrey Hale’s home last Monday. Hale opened fire at The Covenant School on March 27, killing three children and three adults.
The shooter, who “acted totally alone,” planned the attack “over a period of months” and “considered the actions of other mass murderers” in formulating a strategy, police said in a press release on Monday.
In addition to the seven guns stashed in the family home without Hale’s parents’ knowledge, which were disclosed to the public last week, investigators turned up multiple Covenant School yearbooks and a school photo. Hale, whom police have confirmed identified as transgender, was a student at Covenant over a decade ago. The journals found at the Hale family home and in Hale’s vehicle in the school parking lot include extensive entries on “school shootings” and “firearm courses.”
While police initially claimed to have found a “manifesto” detailing the 28-year-old’s plan of attack upon executing the search warrant last Monday and said Hale might have had some “resentment” about attending the Christian elementary school, no definitive motive has yet been made public.
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A widely-shared quote purporting to be from Hale’s manifesto – “You mess with our kids, we kill your kids” – could not be confirmed to Newsweek by the public affairs director for the Nashville Police Department.
It appears to originate from a misunderstanding of a tweet by conservative commentator Jack Posobiec.
While many have called for the contents of Hale’s manifesto (or suicide note) to be made public to gain an insight into the killer’s state of mind, others have urged police to squash it, hinting there could be negative consequences to its publication. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department told the Daily Caller last Tuesday that it would “not be releasing the manifesto during an open investigation.”
Armed with three guns said to have been purchased legally, Hale entered Covenant on March 27 by breaking through a glass door, firing 152 rounds over the course of the attack. The carnage lasted just 14 minutes before police arrived on the scene and fatally shot Hale. The victims, three nine-year-old students, a school custodian, a substitute teacher, and school head Katherine Koonce, were believed to be chosen randomly.
