Nashville School Shooter Was a Woman, and Former Student, Who Later Identified as 'Transgender'

Susan Jones : Mar 28, 2023
CNS News

According to Nashville police, "writings recovered from [Audrey] Hale revealed that her attack was calculated and planned." Please be praying for the families who lost loved ones in the shooting.

[CNSNews.com] A woman identified by police as "transgender" shot up a Nashville Christian school on Monday, killing three nine-year-old students and three adults. (Screengrab image: via CNS News)

According to Nashville police:

"The shooter, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, who attended the school years ago, arrived on campus in her Honda Fit. She was heavily armed with three guns, two of them assault-type weapons, and, as seen in surveillance video, shot her way into the church/school through doors on the side of the building.

"The first call to 911 about shots being fired in the building came in at 10:13 a.m. Officers rushed to the campus, made entry and began clearing the building. Shots were heard coming from the second level.

"It was on the second floor, in a common area, that a team of officers encountered Hale shooting (she had been firing through a window at arriving police cars).

"Two members of an officer team fired on Hale and fatally wounded her. Those two officers are Officer Rex Englebert, a four-year MNPD veteran, and Officer Michael Collazo, a nine-year MNPD veteran.

"Writings recovered from Hale revealed that her attack was calculated and planned."

"There's some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school," NBC News quoted Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief Drake as saying.

Chief Drake identified Hale as a transgender "woman" on Monday afternoon, but press reports said Hale listed "He/Him" pronouns on a LinkedIn profile. The suspect was undisputedly female when she attended the school years ago.

The Covenant School is a private Presbyterian school covering Pre-K through grade 6.

Those killed were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs (the head pastor's daughter), all age nine; Mike Hill, custodian, age 61; Cynthia Peak, substitute teacher, age 61, and Katherine Koonce, school head, ago 60.

Police said a search warrant executed at Hale's home, where—according to police—she lived with her parents. There they seized a sawed-off shotgun, a second shotgun, and other evidence.

Police said this was a "targeted" attack, and they said the killer had no criminal history "at all."

A former middle school classmate says Audrey Hale reached out to her before opening fire at the school.

Averianna Patton told CNN on Tuesday morning that "she still addressed her as Audrey" but didn't know her well as an adult. "I don't know that (transgender) side of her," she said.

Patton said Audrey Hale (using that name) direct-messaged her on Monday morning, writing, "One day this will make more sense. I've left behind more than enough evidence...but something bad is about to happen."

Patton said she's an "influencer" in Nashville, but she has no clear idea why Audrey would contact her. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here