Executive

Audrey Hale manifesto still withheld

Metro Nashville Police still will not release the manifesto of Audrey Hale, the Covenant School shooter who killed six before dying.

Published

12 months ago

May 4, 2023

Terry A. Hurlbut

Audrey Hale Nashville school shooting protest

When Audrey Hale shot her way into Nashville’s Covenant School and killed six people, she left a manifesto behind. That was more than a month ago and the manifesto is still in police hands. Now the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department refuses indefinitely to release it.

Where the Audrey Hale story stands

Audrey “Aidan” Hale, on March 27, 2023, attacked the Covenant School, of which she appears to be a disgruntled alumna. She killed three nine-year-old pupils, including the pastor’s daughter and one other pupil who tried to summon aid by triggering a fire alarm. Though that pupil failed in that effort, someone else succeeded. Sadly, Audrey Hale also killed the principal, a substitute teacher, and a janitor.

Metropolitan Nashville police responded within ten minutes. Two officers entered the school, followed the sounds of gunfire, confronted Hale, and shot her dead.

Body camera footage is out of cops SMOKING transgender school shooter Audrey Hale.

These cops have guts made of steel. One cop comes in and drops her with several accurate shots from his AR-15. Second cop immediately comes in and keeps blasting with his pistol.

AMAZING work. pic.twitter.com/ICQgGwPDDt— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) March 28, 2023

Other officers, investigating, recovered maps and other evidence that she had been planning this attack for months.

Yet the police insisted that her motive was unclear. In fact she left behind a manifesto that almost certainly will make her motive clear – when the police release it. The FBI entered the case and ordered the local police to withhold the manifesto.

Audrey Hale's manifesto is apparently so dangerous the FBI is hiding it.

Unacceptable.

The public MUST SEE what the Nashville transgender mass killer wrote.

Don't hide the truth. People need to know what was in her sick mind.https://t.co/oCM9yRZD7A— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) April 21, 2023

Furthermore, a Metro Nashville Council member seemed to urge that this manifesto never see the light of day.

What I was told is, her manifesto was a blueprint on total destruction, and it was so, so detailed at the level of what she had planned … That document in the wrong person’s hands would be astronomically dangerous.

Exactly what would make any given person a “wrong person,” Council Member Courtney Johnston never made clear. In any case, several Nashville residents sued to force its release under Tennessee’s Public Records Act.

Last week the Metro Nashville Police said they were reviewing the manifesto in preparation for its release. But now, apparently under the cover of the very lawsuit demanding its elease, they refuse to release it.

Covenant investigation update: Due to pending litigation filed this week, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has been advised by counsel to hold in abeyance the release of records related to the shooting at The Covenant School pending orders or direction of the court.— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) May 3, 2023

Reaction

Several journalists and other commentators have expressed outrage at the continued withholding of the Audrey Hale manifesto.

Reminder that we had the Buffalo killer's manifesto hours after that atrocity https://t.co/aIkJZZR2JZ— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 3, 2023

This makes no sense. Dozens of Tennessee citizens sought the release of the Nashville shooter's manifesto under the public records act. All were denied.

Litigation happened because the PD wouldn't release it voluntarily. Now they're using the lawsuit as an excuse to conceal it: https://t.co/o8HmOxzNeb— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 3, 2023

More here on the disturbing attempt to continue to conceal the manifesto of the Nashville shooter:https://t.co/d0rpRtmum7— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 3, 2023

No excuse for @MetroNashville hiding the manifesto. TN cannot hold a special session unless we have all relevant information. Session must reform transparency laws to prevent selective control of info on critical matters of public safety.

Reforms:
1/https://t.co/0wVSUTrKii— Braden Boucek (@BradenBoucek) May 3, 2023

2) Govt must provide privilege log any time it withholds, making it possible to assess if claim is bogus. This is utterly routine in litigation. But it is totally unworkable for it to claim a privilege and not disclose how. Just trust em I guess. 3/— Braden Boucek (@BradenBoucek) May 3, 2023

4) Any bureaucrat who is determined by a court to have wrongfully withheld docs must attend mandatory 2-hour training in public transparency laws. Any second or subsequent violation should trigger automatic employment penalties. This is your job after all.

5/— Braden Boucek (@BradenBoucek) May 3, 2023

I can't emphasize how inexplicable it is for Metro to say they can't release bc it is under litigation. The judge is only reviewing whether Metro MUST disclose, not whether it may not. Under no circumstances will judge tell Metro it can NOT disclose. They know this. It's PR.

END— Braden Boucek (@BradenBoucek) May 3, 2023

Audrey Hale, who went by the name Aidan, had been taking testosterone and other hormones to “transition” into a man. Ironically, her act became a flashpoint for a renewed gun control push that saw two legislators expelled. They are back in the Tennessee House – temporarily, pending a special election.

Terry A. Hurlbut

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Terry A. Hurlbut has been a student of politics, philosophy, and science for more than 35 years. He is a graduate of Yale College and has served as a physician-level laboratory administrator in a 250-bed community hospital. He also is a serious student of the Bible, is conversant in its two primary original languages, and has followed the creation-science movement closely since 1993.