Back in March, a shooter opened fire at the Covenant School, a private Presbyterian elementary school in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood, killing three students and three adults before being killed by police.
The tragic and senseless shooting shook the community, and the country music world rallied around the victims and their families in the weeks and months since the tragedy.
The shooter was 28-year old Audrey Hale, who identified as transgender and went by the name Aiden. And in the aftermath of the shooting, it was revealed that Hale had left behind writings that may contain clues as to her motives behind the shooting.
However, the release of the shooter’s manifesto was blocked by a judge after parents and the school opposed the writings becoming public.
But now, it appears that Louder With Crowder has reportedly obtained three pages of Hale’s writings, which provide a look into the mind of the shooter as she was planning her attack on the school.
Warning: The writings are disturbing.
The journal-entry style writings, if authentic, appear to have been written on the day of the shooting, and reveal Hale’s mindset leading up to the massacre:
“Today is the day. The day has finally come!
I can’t believe its here. Don’t know how I was able to get this far, but here I am.
I’m a little nervous, but excited too. Been excited for the past 2 weeks.”
She also writes that there were “several times” where she could have been caught, “especially back in the summer of 2021.” But she continues:
“Can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m ready…
I hope my victims aren’t.
My only fear is if anything goes wrong. I’ll do my best to prevent any of the sort. (God let my wrath take over my anxiety). It might be 10 minutes. It might be 3-7. It’s gunna go quick. I hope I have a high death count.”
She ends the page with a haunting note:
“Ready to die haha”
The second page contained a minute-by-minute schedule that Hale had mapped out for the day, showing the planning that she put into the attack. And on the final page that was released, apparently written the month prior to the attack, Hale seemed to provide some insight into why she chose the school for her target.
In the rantings, Hale calls her victims “crackers” who go to “fancy private schools with those fancy khakis & sports backpacks.” She also said she wanted to “kill all you little crackers,” calling her victims a “bunch of little fa**ots” with “white privilege.”
It’s unknown how many more pages are in the manifesto, which Louder With Crowder says they were able to confirm as authentic. In one of the photos, a Nashville police vehicle can be seen in the background, indicating that the photos were taken at the scene of their investigation.
The Metro Nashville Police Department has yet to comment on the leak of the writings or confirm their authenticity. However, Nashville reporter Phil Williams seemed to confirm the authenticity of the writings while calling them “EXTREMELY misleading,” saying that the shooter “hated everybody” and that “there’s something in there for everybody.”
