The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has officially rejected a public records request filed by The Tennessee Star newspaper, which sought the release of the manifesto written by Audrey Hale—the assailant behind the March 27 shooting in which six people were killed at The Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.
In the hours after the shooting, police indicated that Hale—a biological female who identified as a transgender male—was a former student at the private Christian school. Police also indicated that they had found a “manifesto” they believe was written by Hale. At a March 27 press briefing, when asked by reporters whether there may have been a connection between Hale’s transgender identity and her motive for carrying out the attack, MNPD Chief John Drake said “there is some theory to that,” but did not provide any additional details on the matter.
With questions remaining about Hale’s identity and motives, The Tennessee Star submitted a request for the MNPD to release the manifesto. According to the publication, the MNPD issued a rejection letter just one day after they submitted the records request.
The Tennessee Star published a copy of the denial letter it received from the MNPD, which cited Rule 16 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure in the decision to withhold the records. The rule bars the disclosure of evidence in an “open case.”
Hale was killed at the scene of the shooting by responding police officers.
NTD News reached out to the MNPD for further comment but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.
Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns The Tennessee Star, called on public officials within the state to compel the MNPD to release Hale’s purported manifesto and other records investigators took from Hale’s home after the deadly shooting.
“I call upon Governor Bill Lee and Mayor John Cooper to request that the Metro Nashville Police Department immediately release the manifesto and all related written documents obtained in the search of the residence and vehicle of the murderer Audrey Hale because it is in the public interest to do so,” Leahy said.
Other Officials Call For Manifesto’s Release
Leahy’s effort to gain access to the manifesto comes as other public figures have called for investigators to release the documents so the public can better understand Hale’s state of mind. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called for the release of the manifesto within hours of the shooting.
“Our trans youth are troubled,” Burchett said. “If they don’t get the help they need they can grow up to have some serious issues, but I obviously don’t believe they’ll all grow up to be shooters like this,” he said. “We need to know what was going through this person’s head, and the manifesto should be made public.”
Without the documents, some officials have been left to speculate what the evidence may reveal, and have questioned whether there might be political motives at play in the decision to deny the public access to the documents.
On Monday, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) told Fox News that “It seems that certain information is flooded into the marketplace immediately if it fits the narrative, so to speak. If the information does not fit the narrative, it seems to get suppressed.”
Earlier this month, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Director David Rausch characterized the manifesto as a rambling series of writings that did not spell out a clear motive. Rausch said that Hale did not write about specific political, religious, or social issues, but instead seemed to idolize those who have committed school shootings in the past, WTVF reported.
Manifesto Could Be ‘Astronomically Dangerous’
Metro Nashville Council Member Courtney Johnston recently told the New York Post that the FBI has ruled out the idea of releasing the manifesto any time soon.
Johnston indicated that parts of the manifesto may eventually be released, but that most of the document represents too much of a risk to be allowed into the public view.
“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,” Johnston said. “That document in the wrong person’s hands would be astronomically dangerous.”
