Several House Republicans are demanding the FBI declassify the manifesto of Nashville gunman Audrey Hale, while a council member says she was told it was a “blueprint for total destruction.”
It comes a week after a poll in which two-thirds of US voters said they wanted Nashville police to release the manifesto – a sign of growing frustration at the investigation into the deadly attack.
Hale, who is transgender, fired 152 rounds from two assault rifles and a handgun, murdering Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney, Evelyn Dieckhaus, all nine, and Principal Dr. Katherine Koonce, 60, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, and chef Mike Hill, 61 on March 27.
Metro Nashville councilman Courtney Johnston said that regardless of timing, the manifesto will not be released in full, noting that a shocking read is expected.
“What I was told was that her manifesto was a blueprint for total destruction, and it was so, so detailed at the level of what she had planned,” Johnston said.
Several House Republicans are demanding the FBI declassify Nashville gunman Audrey Hale’s manifesto, while a council member says she was told it was a “blueprint for total destruction.”
“This document would be astronomically dangerous in the hands of the wrong person,” she told the New York Post.
Officers removed a “manifesto,” hand-drawn cards, a suicide note, 20 journals, laptops, phones, and several papers from Hale’s home and the Honda Fit she had left in the school parking lot.
Congressman Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, was disappointed by the news.
He thinks it might tell us a little bit about what’s going on in her head. I think that would answer a lot of questions.”
However, after speaking with investigators, Johnston says she doesn’t think it would do well for the rest of America to deal with the toll it’s taken them.
“Personally, I don’t want to know how far her psychosis has gone… If a senior MNPD official tells me it’s keeping him up at night, I’ll let that person in this agency handle that. I don’t need to read it.”
The materials taken from Hale were shared with the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia, and describe Hale’s “planning over a period of months to commit mass murders” at the school, police said in a statement.
“The documents that we have and I’ve looked at them, you know, one is specifically a plan and the other is some diary-like tirades,” said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Metro Nashville councilman Courtney Johnston said that regardless of timing, the manifesto will not be released in full, noting that a shocking read is expected
Officers removed a “manifesto,” hand-drawn cards, a suicide note, 20 journals, laptops, phones, and several papers from Hale’s home and the Honda Fit she had left in the school parking lot
Congressman Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, was disappointed by the news
They contained none of the “ideological language” found in the screeds of other mass murderers, he said, such as “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski’s 35,000-word essay on the collapse of industrial society in 1995.
Burchett’s colleague Andy Ogles of the Tennessee Republican House of Representatives said there should be an investigation if the full manifesto is not released.
Americans by a wide margin want to see the screed, which many believe will unveil an agenda of violent trans extremism, and just as many are worried Hale’s attack will lead to more copycat strikes in Christian schools, pollsters have found.
The Rasmussen Reports poll puts pressure on Nashville police to declassify Hale’s writings, even as officials retract claims she left a manifesto and say her writings are just “journalistic tirades.”
Walter Hudson, a Minnesota state official, was the latest Republican politician to request the documents be released, and said they could explain Hale’s Covenant School shooting on the morning of March 27.
“We really need to know what motivated someone to shoot and kill six people, including three nine-year-old children,” Hudson tweeted this week.
Americans want to see the screed by a wide margin and are concerned Hale’s attack will lead to more copycat strikes at Christian schools
David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, says Hale’s writings are deranged “ratings” and are not a “manifesto.”
Caitlyn Jenner, Vernon Jones, former Trump White House adviser Sebastian Gorka, and other conservatives have urged the Metro Nashville Police Department and the FBI to release the writings.
“Why is the FBI keeping the Nashville transgender mass murderer’s manifesto secret?” Gorka posted Monday.
Hale was shot dead by police at the school within minutes of the attack beginning.
Officers have since recovered a “manifesto”, hand-drawn cards, a suicide note, 20 diaries, laptops, phones and several writings from her home and the Honda Fit she left in the school parking lot.
They were shared with the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia, and describe Hale’s “planning over a period of months to commit mass murders” at the school, police said in a statement.
A police spokeswoman told on Tuesday that the manifesto was still under “an active investigation” and that she “had no date if, when or how we would release it at that point”.
Manifesto experts have also told that Hale’s writings relate to her emotional difficulties rather than the blueprint for violent transgender extremism that some have been expecting.
The Rasmussen Reports poll of nearly 1,000 Americans, conducted between March 30 and April 3 after Hale’s attack, found that respondents blamed a number of reasons for the spate of mass shootings in the country.
About 42 percent say killers are driven by mental health issues, while 29 percent attribute attacks to the widespread availability of firearms. Other causes include social media (11 percent), school problems (7 percent), and family issues (6 percent).
SCHEDULE OF NASHVILLE SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
9:30 a.m. – Metro Sheriff John Drake confirmed Audrey Hale, 28, left her parents’ property with a red bag. She was asked about the bag by her mother, but dismissed the question.
9:53 am – Hale arrives at Covenant School in her Honda Fit. She can be seen in surveillance footage driving around the parking lot, exiting the frame and parking at around 9:55 a.m
9:57 a.m. – Hale sends a goodbye message to Averianna Patton on Instagram. The message read: “This is my final goodbye. I love you. We’ll meet again in another life.’ She then replies, telling Hale that she has so much more to live for.
Hale responds again, saying one day, “This is going to make more sense,” but “something bad is about to happen.”
10:03 am – Averianna Patton calls the Suicide Prevention Line to try to report the messages Hale sent her. They tell her to contact the local sheriff’s department.
10:10 am – Hale approaches a side entrance of the private Christian school and shoots through the glass doors to gain entry with her two AR-style rifles and a handgun.
10:12 a.m. – Patton emotionally calls 911 and asks them to check on Hale following the troubling news. She is told that without an address, there is not much the officials can do for her.
10:13 a.m. – First shots call to 911.
10:14 am – Hale walks down a school hallway and walks around the property for several minutes. She then passes the Children’s Ministry before firing shots at 10:21 and then exiting the video frame.
10:24 am – The first subway police officers arrive at the scene, with Officer Englebert unlocking the door and entering the school. The five-man tactical unit enters the school and begins searching for the shooter.
10:27 am – The officer team encounters the gunman in the second floor atrium. Police said Hale shot incoming officers through a window. Englebert, along with Officer Michael Collazo, shot Hale.