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Nashville School Shooter Had Connection to One of the Victims, Appeared to Be Searching for Pastor: Report

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A former pastor connected with the Nashville, Tennessee, elementary school in which six people were killed Monday said he believes shooter Audrey Hale had a connection to the Christian school that could have impacted the horrific events.

Jim Bachmann, who once worked at The Covenant School, told Inside Edition that the school’s current pastor, Chad Scruggs, had provided Hale with some form of counseling.

The 28-year-old shooter, who attended the school as a girl but later identified as male, was shot and killed by police after a murderous rampage that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults.

Hallie Scruggs — the pastor’s daughter — was among the children killed in the attack.

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“That’s what I’m hearing. He was providing counseling for her, and something didn’t sit right with her,” Bachmann said in the interview.

Inside Edition noted that the police body camera video of Hale inside the school made it appear as though she was searching for someone.

“If she’d found Chad and she tried to kill him, maybe she’d have left the daughter alone,” Bachmann said.

He said he knew Hale from the days when she attended the school.

“She was a very normal, happy-go-lucky little girl that liked to play kickball with the boys,” Bachmann said.



The Covenant School issued a statement to the U.K.’s Daily Mail pouring cold water on Bachmann’s claim.

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“Metro Nashville Police have been clear that no one was targeted in the shooting, and Pastor Scruggs was not counseling the shooter,” the school said.

“The former pastor had said on a television program he had heard that, but it is not accurate and is based on hearsay, not fact,” it said.

Nashville police have called the shooting a targeted attack and said the killer had written a “manifesto” about her plans, according to CBS News.

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Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Hale may have had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”

To date, however, police have said they found no evidence specific people were sought out.

“We have no evidence that individuals were specifically targeted,” said Don Aaron, the director of media relations at the Nashville Police Department.

“This school, this church building was a target of the shooter, but we have no information at present to indicate that the shooter was specifically targeting any one of the six individuals who were murdered,” Aaron said.

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
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Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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