Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
On mars 27, 2023 an armed assailant breach the campus of the covenant school , a privat academy in the green hills neighborhood of nashville, and killed six people.the shooter was identified as audrey E. Hale , a 28 year- old former student of the school who lived in the area and was being treated for an emotinonal disorder .the asiliant was killed by the polise minutes after they arrived at the scene.
Audrey Aiden hale.
Hale was born femal but recently began using the pronoun and name ´ Aiden ´ .
firing at the police who stormed the school, she was determined to die. Eerie text messages from nashville shooter: ´ planning to die today ´
hale 28 messaged averianna patton , her former middle school basketball teammate , on instagram at 9 .57. a.m. monday.
Nachville mass schooter audrey hale sent her friend a series of chilling messages on instagram minutes before launching her deadly attack inside the covenant school.
” THIS IS NOT AN JOKE!!” wrote hale whos identfied as transgender.
” you ´ll probably hear about me on the news after i die.”
Hale added. this is my last goodbaye . i love you…. see you again in another life.”.she signed the message Audrey ( Aiden)Patton replied” Audrey! you have so much more life to live. I pray God keeps and covers you.”.
In respons hale wrote : ” know, but i dont want to live. i´m so sorry . I´m not trying to upset you or get attention . i just need to die . i wanted to tell you first because you are the most beautiful person I´ve ever seen and known all my life” .
she added” my family doesn´t know why i´m about to do. one day this will make more sense. Ive left more than enough evidencence behind. but something bad is about to happen.”
The transgender shooter -who was female by birth but often went by ` Aden´ and used `he/she´ prounouns -herself resent´ about going to school as a child.
Hale was standing in front of a large window on the second floor of the covenant school when police entered the building.
Audrey hale is shown after she was killed by police on the second floor of the covenant school in Nashville, tennessee. firing at the police who stormed the school. she was immediately taken down by one of the respondings officers . by the time police arrived, hale had shot three students and three teachers . it is not clear whether she targeted those childen .
Nasville officials have issued a chilling 911 call from inside. covenent school after a mass shooting that claimed the lives of three children and three adults.
Muffled calls were made urging dispatchers to send help, with gunshots and crying children heard in the background .
Meanwhile , a manefesto written by Nashville school shooting suspect audrey hale will soon be released by authoritites investigating mondays deadly attack on the covenant school in the tennessee city.
No motivation for the attack has yet been sestablished but it emerged on wednesday that hale hade previosley posted on facebook about the death of a romantic partner , offering
a possible clue , according to a former teacher.
Hale used multiple weapons to kill six victims durring the mass shooting. the 28 year old mass shooter legaly purchased the guns from various local stores .includling the three she used to kill six victims at the covenant school.
The mass shooter audrey hale hid her cache of weapons from her parents , who didn´t want her to own guns due to an emotional disorder she was treated for.
the shooters mom told detectives she´d asked hale what was in a red bag she was carrying when she left the house – but her daughter was dissmissive. and added that she didn´t think to look in the bag because she didn´t know hale still owned firearms.
The police chief said there´s no law in tenessee that would allowed authorities to take away Hales guns based on her being under the care of a doctor ,but he insisted that cops wouldss have made every efforts to do so if they had known she was suicidal.
Hales parents told investigators they only knew about one of the guns but they believed she has sold it sometimes before the massacre.
” she was under care , doctors,care ,for an emotional disorder” .
The police chief said without elaborating, adding that cops ” knew nothing about the treatment she was receiving”.
police are looking into whether hale´s gender identity played a role in the slaughter . it is unclare whether hale identified as man or woman , but cops have referred to her using femal pronouns.” as it stands, we had absolutly no idea.. whos this person was . that she even existed” polise chief said.
asked wether hale was autistisc, polise chief said he couldn´t confirm that
Audrey hale lived in the house with her parents. the image show a typical family home. but the brick tudor- stlye house is where the mass shooter identified as audrey hale hid a cach of seven guns from her parents . -the homeowner. hale brought three of the deadlet wapons two assault rifles and a handgun -to the covenant custodian school.
hales parents told investigators they knew only of one gun and believed hale had sold it
” as it turns a out ,she hade been hiding several weapons within the house”
Audrey hale was a former student at the school where she gunned down six people.
Neighbors said police used flash grenades to storm the home.
FBI agents remove two additional rifles from Nashville shooter home
Investigators recovered a stockpile of guns and a manifesto written by hale in the home. aswell as detailed maps of the Covenant school , where the shooter was once student.
photos from after the raid show it boarded up.
” We strongely believe there was going to be some other targets, including maybe family members , and one of the malls here in nashville,”police chief john drake told CBS news ” and that just did not happen.
police chief drake said the killer ” had some history there” and the attack was ” targeted an planned.”
police do not believe any of the victims were specifically targeted .
” what detectives have said so far is there´s possibly some resentment for having to go to that school ” he added.
however , investigators have not determined an official motiv and have not revealed the contents of hales manfesto.
Hale was undergoing treatment for “emotional disorder before the shooting.
Agents from the bureau of alcohol ,tobac , firearms and explosives identified hale with facial recognition technolologi, the search warrant reveals.
the technology quickly gave them a name and driver´s license , wich along with registration of the Honda Fit parked outside , led investigators to hale´s parents house in nashville. In addition to the passwords on a sticky note, they seized a cach of electronics there, inckluding six laptops, seven cellphones, a tablet and 11 computer drives, they also found 20 journals throughout the basemanet , 14 videos and tennessee man´s driver´s license in a bookcase along with photographs of the covenant school, where the killer was once a student and five yearbooks from there.
Additonal documents recovered at the home included song lyrics , artwork, and several handwritten notes.
Audrey hale, 28 , is pictured in a driver´s licences photo and school surveillance video realesed by Nashville police .
Nashville school schooter audrey hale ran an art website that included a disturbing image dedicated to the ” shining” and its backwards spelling of ” MURDER” .
Hales artwork included a disturbing homag to “The shining” and “MUIRDER”
” My illustration usually bring a whimsical and light-hearted feel ” Aside from art i enjoy bining oin video games, watching movies and playing sports and spending time with my two cats. witch hale describes as ” my secons passion” there is a child -like part about me that loves to go run to to the playground , that at least ,is reflected in the online work, with one image in the ” personal ” section showing the red sneakers of someone on a swing and the words ” to be a kid forever and ever “
Audrey hale driving her car and breaking into covenant school ,carrying her firearms. the women was a former student at the school but it is unclear when or how long. Hale drove to covenant school in her Honda fit .she was armed with 2 assault-type guns and 9 milimeter pistol.
Hale breaking a glass door by firing a few shots, and then entering the school. she is seen walking along the school corridors , armed withs her guns, at times aiming it at potential subjects.
Nashville police lauded for quick response to covenant school shooting unlike Ulvade cops.
Just 14 minutes after the school first called police to report an active shooter. and now this prompt action by cops is being applauded by many who thanked them ” for not beinge Uvalde police”
Nashville police recived a call from the school at 10 .13 am . about the shooter, who allegedly entered the Nasville school through a side entrance and went from the first floor to the second floor as she fired gunshots , when police arrived , she fired shots at them from a secons floor window. …
at 10 .27 a,m she was declared dead
Audrey hale graduated from the Nossi College of Designe in Nashville in 2022.
a former teacher ms colomy also recal the shooter´s difficult first day of class. according to her hale began to cry in front row over a mundane problem of creating a password for the online student portal.ms colomy told the new york times about the death of hales partner. ” she had been openly grieving about that on social media , and during the grieving is when she announced that she wanted to be adressed as a male.”
Audrey hale graduated from the Nossi College of Designe in Nashville in 2022.
The school president Cyris Vatanoost said of hale:”while at our school she was a talent artist and a good student”.
but Hale had previously expressed she will to commit suicide, according to a close friend of theirs.
Audrey hale appaears in college video talking about ” growing as an artist”.
last year hale , who it is understood was transgender, appeared in the spring 2022 senior portfolio show for Nossi College of Art in Nashville .
in the video which featured a number of students and was pubished on youTube on july18 2022.
hale says” it ´s been hard . but it´s also been an amazing experience when it comes to developing my creative talents and growing as an artist.”
a linkedln profile ,that has since been deleted, said hale started a freelance illustration and graphic design business after graduating from the college.
Audrey hale and parents Norma and Ronald hale
audrey´s parents couldn´t accept their daughters trans identity, transgender,gay lifestyle, according to a report.
the daily mail reported that hales strict christian parents norma , 61 , and 64- years old ronald, struggled to come to terms with their daughter´s identity and sexuality.
Metro Nashville police chief john drake recently announced hale was transgender .he said police were investigating whether hale being transgender payed a role in he decision to target the privat christian elementery school.
Hale hwo also went by the name ” Aiden” and used he / him pronouns , would reportedly change clothes after leaving the family home where she lived .
” you only see what you want to see ” a source told the Mail . ” their religion does not allow them to accept homosexuality”.
Audrey hale ,repatedly trained at local gun ranges before the mass murder. WSMV4 investigates has confirmed.
Hale took three defensive handgun training classes at the royal range USA in bellevue before april 2022 , the owner of the range confirmed .
Metro police chief john drake also confirmed to the WSSMV4 investigates that hale trained at other gun ranges in middle tenessee before the shooting.
A photograph obtained by WSMV4 investigates shows the back of a women Wearing her hat backward with shorts dark hair, attending target practice at the royal range USA on may 21 ,2022.
A Nasvill women,who asked that her identitiy be concealed , said she was at the range that day with her boyfriend , and got such a bad feeling from the women in the hat that she stepped out of the room and snapped the photograph.
A women got an uneasy feeling when she saw a women at the gun range in in may 2022. she nows believes it was audray hale.
” I was like , there´s something weird here ” the women said.” i was just thinking if something was to happen , i need a picture of this person .
Nearly a year after taking the picture, the women said she saw the video of hale wearing her hat backwards during the shooting , and recognized her.
” I imagine it was the video that made you feel this ,this is the same person ” asked WSMV4 investigates.
” yes , it was . ” the women said. ” with the hat on backwards ands the stature .”
the women sent the photograph in an email to chief john drake detailing the circumstances of the photo .
The owner of Royal range said their system did a conversion last month and they are looking now to see if they have a record that hale had taken gun practice on that same date. while they declined an interview ,a spokeman for the range sent a statement,reading in part ” We participate in and lead active shooter trainings and do training for law enforcement throughout this community on a regular basis , so this hits especially hard . we are working with and and cooperating fully with the law enforcement with anything they need at this time “
Ken Alexandrow , a former Metro polie officer and security trainer , review the security video of hale carrying and aiming her weapon for WSMV4 investigates , and said it is clear that she was well trained .
alexandrow said the fact that hale held the butt of the rifle near the middle of her chest and not up against het shoulder,as welle as kept her elbows in and tight against her body showed she was trained in tactic movements. alexandrow also noted that when she rounded a corner , she kept close to the wall showing that she knew that position kept her small to others but also opened up her peripheral view.
alexandrow said he and others gun range owners are now looking through their rosters to see if hale trained with tem .
“even though anybody who trained her did nothing wrong, we still dont want to think we had anything to do with the sucess of this attack ” alexandrow said.
for transparancy WSMV4 Investgates agreed to conceal the identitity of the women who took te photograph, because she feared she would face threats for exposing hale´s training before the shooting.
” I plan to die today” was written in a chilling “suicide note” that sthe school shooter in Naschvill , Audrey hale sent to a friend via text message only before she opened fire and killed three children and three adults .
An old middle schoool basketball friend of Audrey hale´s who checked her phone at 0.67 in the morning discovered an Instagram message from the person who commited the shoting at the covenant school .
According to Averianna patton , she was the one who saw the message in which hale informed her that she planned to commit herself and that she would learn about it in the press .
In the communications that patton conveyed to hale , hale told patton that they will meet again in another incarniatioin of themselves.
Hale shared with patton that she had lost all will to live and now had an overwhelming want to depart this world .
Patton is unable to wrap her head around the fact she was one of the very last people to communicate with the gunman at covenant school.
When the two were in middle school ,they were teammates on the basketball team at
IT Creswell Middle School.Hale added ” one day this will make sense” . to the troubling messages . ” I have left behind much more proof than is necessay . Yet ,a bad event is going to take place very soon.”
” The Post that i made on this website about you was in essence , a suicide note” said the poster.
According to correspondence that was handed to the outlet by patton , writtten under the identity Aiden ,hale is said to have started ,”I plan to die today.”
Audrey Hale , who identified as transgender, said, ” THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!.Aftrer im gone, you´ll definitily read about me in the papers and other publictions .
Hale continued by saying ” this is my final goodbye. i love you … see you in a future existense.”
The reaction that patton gave was ” audrey! there i still a lot of life left for you to live. I will pray that god watchse over you and keeps you safe .Hale gave the following reponse in response to the Question ” I understand ,but i dot not wish to live . i sincerely apologize.I have no intention of making you angry or drawing your attention to me . i just need to die ,I have seen many beautiful people in my life ,but you take the cake for being the most stunning of all the people i have ever known.”
plan,this will become clearley at some point in the future. There is a mountain of evidence that i´ve left behind .Yet a terrible event is going to take place very soon “
16 minutes later at 10.13 a.m law enforcement officials received the first 911 call reporting shooting at the The Covenant School in Nasville. tennessee.
As hale allegedely entered the christian primary school. she was armed with two firearms an assult-slye designe in addition to a handgun.
Inside hale opened fire, wich ultimately led to the deaths of three small children as well as three staff members .
The ex-student could be seen in the footage from sthe surveillance camera stalking the halls looking for victims. at 10 .27 in the morning responding officers shot and killed the offender with their firearms.
” after making several attempts to comfort and reassure her ,i dialed the number my father given me for the suicide prevention Help line at 10: 98 in the morning.” patton related in hers´s statement
“Audey revealed to other people that she had suicidal tendencies in the past , and i understod to take this s seriously” patton added. ” at the time i was in a relationship with her.”
The friend said to the publication that she called the Nashville davidson county sheriffs office at 10:13 in the morning and was instructed to call the non -emergency number for the city .
” At 10 .14. a.m . i called the nasville polide departement´s non -emergency nymber and waited on hold for more thn seven minutes before speaking with someone who assured me that police officer would be sent to my apartement ” patton said.
Patton stold the CNN channel that a police officer showed uip at her home at 3.29. in the afternoon.
” the following phone calls from friends and the announcement of audreys name as the shooter at the covenant Naschvill school , I learned that audrey was the shooter and that she had contacted me prior to the shooting ” she stated.Patton continued by saying, ” my heart goes out to all of the families that have been affected and i am schocked by what has transpired.”
