Nashville police: school shooter was planning the attack ‘for months’

The Metro Nashville Police Department revealed on Monday that the shooter who gunned down three staff and three nine year old students at a private school last week had been planning the shooting “for months.”

According to evidence found in the shooter’s car and home, police have determined Audrey Hale had carefully planned the attack and studied the attacks carried out by previous mass shooters to orchestrate the shooting on March 27. Pieces of writing penned by Hale included a suicide note written ahead of the shooting, which left Hale dead from an officer-inflicted gunshot wound.

The MNPD added in its release that a motive in the shooting was still unclear, in spite of all the written evidence that was found in Hale’s bedroom and car, which was parked near the school. The investigation has also determined Hale fired 152 rounds in the school during the shooting, including shooting through the glass door to gain entry into the building.

The investigation has found Hale specifically targeted the Covenant School and the Presbyterian church attached to it, but seems to have fired upon victims at random once inside. Hale had been under medical supervision for emotional issues at the time of the shooting, and had still been able to purchase several firearms legally in Tennessee. Hale was armed with three of them at the scene of the shooting.