Transgender School Shooter's Manifesto to Be Cleared for Public Release
The manifesto left behind by a woman who murdered six people last month at a Christian school in Tennessee will be released to the public, according to a report.
The manifesto was recovered after police say Audrey Hale entered The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27 and murdered three children and three adults.
Hale went by the name “Aiden” and aligned herself with the so-called “transgender” community.
In addition to a reportedly detailed manifesto, Hale left behind laptops, notes, mobile phones, and a suicide note, according to the New York Post.
The FBI reportedly had plans to suppress the release of the manifesto, which sparked a backlash.
WZTV reported Thursday the Metro Nashville Police Department and the FBI both retained possession of the document in the hours after the mass shooting.
The MNPD reportedly expects it to be made public soon, although no timetable was announced.
A police representative said in a statement that the document is currently being reviewed for release.
“The investigation has advanced to the point that writings from the Covenant shooter are now being reviewed for public release,” the department said. “That process is underway and will take a little time.”
It’s not clear how much of the document, if any, will be redacted when it is released.
Two House Republicans argued last week that the manifesto should be released, so that people might have a better idea of what motivated the murders of three nine-year-old children and three members of their school’s faculty.
Republican Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Walter Hudson of Minnesota each called on the FBI to release it immediately, the Post reported.
Burchett said the manifesto “could maybe tell us a little bit about what’s going on inside of her head.”
“I think that would answer a lot of questions,” he said.
Hudson told the Post his constituents had expressed to him a sentiment of “distrust with the FBI and with government agencies generally.”
Metro Nashville Council Member Courtney Johnston told the newspaper the manifesto was “a blueprint on total destruction” and said the FBI had no plans to release it.
“That document in the wrong person’s hands would be astronomically dangerous,” she said.
It is unclear what Hale’s motives were, but she previously attended the school.
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