Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,
The transgender shooter behind the 2023 Nashville elementary school attack that killed six people, including three children, had been planning it for years while struggling with mental health issues, according to a police report released Wednesday.
The nearly 50-page investigative case summary by Metro Nashville Police closes the agency’s probe into the shooting at the Christian, private Covenant School in March 2023.
Contrary to widespread media reports, the investigation said that no manifesto existed.
“In this case, a manifesto didn’t exist. Hale never left behind a single document explaining why she committed the attack, why she specifically targeted The Covenant, and what she hoped to gain, if anything, with the attack,” the Nashville police report states.
Instead, the shooter, Audrey Hale, left behind “a series of notebooks, art composition books, and media files created by Hale documenting her planning and preparation for the attack, the events in her life that motivated her to commit the attack, and her hopes regarding the outcome of the attack,” police determined.
Hale, who once attended Covenant, was killed by police.
Hale identified as a man at the time of the attack, but the police report uses female pronouns. The report doesn’t refer to Hale as transgender.
“She began to use the name ‘Aiden Williams’ in the years prior to her death and used male pronouns on her social media and networking accounts. Nothing has been found to suggest she initiated or was undergoing a transition at the time of her death, including medical documentation,” the report states.
“During her autopsy following her death, it was determined she was biologically female.”
Factual, but not truthful. https://t.co/MLD8pGV61F pic.twitter.com/OvxojCPYNc
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 2, 2025
Hale began receiving treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on April 23, 2001, when the shooter was just six years old. She first fantasized about committing a mass shooting in November 2017, after watching documentaries about school shootings and “remembering her social struggles in middle school,” according to the Nashville police report.
By December 2018, Hale also began planning an attack at a different middle school where she had once been a student, the report says. Months later, her therapist became “concerned,” and recommended Hale take part in a psychological assessment at VUMC, according to the police report. That assessment occurred in June 2019.
“Based on records from the assessment, VUMC confirmed the mental health disorders Hale was already known to have and identified her depression and anxiety as the largest aggravating factors. They made no mention of psychosis and noted Hale denied having any plans to harm herself or others, nor the means to do so,” the Nashville police report states.
After her assessment, Hale participated in an eight-week “intensive outpatient program.”
“For a short period of time, the treatment seemed to work, as Hale’s writings tended to be more positive, and fewer mentions of depression and anxiety were present. She seemed more hopeful about life and the possibility of finding independence and success,” the police report states.
“But these feelings quickly faded, as the social and personal factors that drove her depression in the first place never left. Hale quickly sunk back into deep rage and despair.”
Hale continued to fantasize about school shootings for the next several years until she carried one out the morning of March 27, 2023. Hale’s shooting spree lasted about 20 minutes before police killed her.
Transgender Christian school shooter Audrey Hale began receiving treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2001, when she was 6.
According to the Nashville police report released today, Hale first fantasized about committing a mass shooting in November 2017.
In 2019,… pic.twitter.com/rlDSRZCmXh
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 2, 2025
“Due to the audible fire alarm, the earplugs she was wearing throughout the attack, and the sound of her own gunfire, Hale never heard the police officers as they entered the lobby behind her. One officer then fired a 5.56mm caliber rifle at Hale, striking her and knocking her to the ground,” the Nashville police report states.
“As the officers approached Hale to take her into custody, they saw she still had possession of her firearms and her arms were moving. A second officer fired a 9mm caliber pistol at her. She was fatally wounded by the officers’ gunfire.”
The people killed in the shooting at Covenant were: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old; Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.
The Tennessee Star still has an ongoing lawsuit to compel MNPD and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings.
The Star reported Wednesday that it’s extended a settlement offer to FBI Director Kash Patel, who had called for Hale’s “manifesto” to be made public before he became director.
“FBI Director Kash Patel indicated that he would release Hale’s writings if made the agency’s director, and SNDM has extended a settlement offer that would see the lawsuit dropped in exchange for Patel dropping the agency’s opposition to their release around the time of his confirmation. The FBI has yet to respond to the offer,” the Star reported.
The evidence held by law enforcement on Hale includes more than 100 gigabytes of data, which includes over 900 pages of her writings.
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