Earlier this week, three pages of writings from the shooter who opened fire on the Covenant School in Nashville this past March were released by Steven Crowder on Louder with Crowder, providing us our first look at the manifesto left behind by 28-year old Audrey Hale.
Three students and three adults were killed in the massacre before police heroically took down Hale, who reportedly identified as transgender and went by the name Aiden.
The journal contained disturbing writings, which appear to be from the day of the shooting, expressing excitement for the planned killings:
“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 revealing that she had planned on making a video (though it hasn’t been confirmed whether or not the video was made or recovered).
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.”
The leaked manifesto of the transgender school shooter in Nashville indicates she may have filmed a 10-minute “final video” before the massacre. pic.twitter.com/7jEu7kyQu5
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) November 6, 2023
Immediately after the report, Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell seemingly confirmed that the leaked images were authentic, calling for an investigation into how the manifesto was leaked.
And Metro Nashville Police Department also released a statement announcing an investigation shortly after the pages were leaked:
“The MNPD is in communication with the Metropolitan Department of Law as an investigation, begun this morning, continues into the dissemination of three of photographs of writings during an online discussion about Covenant school.
The photographs are not MNPD crime scene images.
The police department has been in contact with a representative of Covenant families. Police department counselors are available to assist them in coping with the emotional trauma caused by the dissemination.”
Well today, MNPD announced that three officers had been reassigned to “administrative assignments,” according to The Tennessean.
MNPD says that the assignment to administrative duties is “non-punitive” and that the officers still have “full police powers,” but was meant to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation. The seven officers involved have not been identified.
In a tweet after the reassignment was announced, Crowder said that the department is “more concerned about finding the leaker” than they are about the disturbing contents of the manifesto.
