Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28 years oldis the identity of the attacker who on Monday, March 27, carried out a massacre at the Covenant College in Nashville (Tennessee), in the United States, where killed six people, including three 9-year-old children.
Hale, who was killed during an exchange of fire with police on the second floor of the school, I had been a student of this institution Presbyterian founded in 2001.
Although authorities initially described the Covenant shooter as female, they later Hale was reported to identify as transgender.
A police spokesperson told the Washington Post that Hale “is a biological female who, in a social media profile, used male pronouns.”
The police suspect that having been a trans kid in a Presbyterian private school would have had something to do with what happened. “There is a belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school. I don’t have all the details yet, and that’s why this incident happened,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake told reporters.
At Covenant, where there are about 200 students, Audrey went from kindergarten to the equivalent of sixth grade. After her, according to her LinkedIn profile of her, studied Art and worked for Nossi College of Art in Madison, Tennesseewhere he won an award for being the “most improved” artist of 2015, graduating in 2022.
“While she was at our school, she was a gifted artist and a good student,” the school’s president and CEO, Cyrus Vatandoost, told ABC News.
In his time as an art student, Audrey was “a quiet, sweet, funny and somewhat quiet girl”a former friend told the Daily Mail.
“When he said that he was actually a man, no one was surprised and he was supported,” he added.
Another classmate of Hale’s during school said that “what she did was inexcusable, but when I met her she was a sweet and fun girl, she was part of the LGTBI community and she was involved in the school.”
“He doesn’t really fit the archetype of the school shooter. I don’t know what happened to turn her into that person we now see on the news. No one in my class had seen this coming,” she added in a statement to the Daily Mail.
Since last year, Hale ran her own freelance illustration and graphic design business.based in Nashville, where he created logos and branding to “help tell a company’s story” and “give a whimsical and playful feel.”
“In addition to art, I enjoy playing video games, watching movies and playing sports. There’s a childish part of me that loves to go for a run on the playground. Animals are my second passion, so I also enjoy spending time with my two cats,” Hale wrote on a personal website.
Hale’s LinkedIn account also lists working as a part-time grocery shopper with the Shipt food delivery service and mentions previous jobs as a cat sitter.
A raid on Hale’s home recovered more weapons in addition to those used in the attack, including a sawed-off shotgun and a second shotgun.
Hale’s mother, Norma Hale, admitted to ABC News the difficult time she was living: “I lost my daughter today,” she said, asking for privacy.
The grudge theory gains strength for the police because Audrey He had no criminal record and no mental illness.
A family neighbor told ABC News that Audrey Hale lived in the family home with her parents, whom she described as “very nice” and “very religious.”
Hale also did not grow up in an environment where the use of weapons was common. “His family of him did not go hunting or to the shooting range. The only thing they threw were balls into the basketball hoop”, say the neighbors.
What happened the day of the shooting?
At 9:57 a.m., minutes before the first shots were fired, Hale spoke on Instagram to a former schoolmate to confess that she was planning to commit suicide, and that she would see it on the news. The message continued: “One day this will make more sense. I have left behind me more than enough evidence. But something bad is about to happen.”
When the police searched his house, they found a manifesto and a map of the school compound, detailing the surveillance, the entry points, and how the attack was to be carried out that day.
Audrey he left his car parked on campus from the Covenant Christian Private School, located in the Green Hills area, around 10:00 am. He was carrying at least two assault rifles and a pistolIn addition, she had several rounds of ammunition and was prepared for a confrontation with the police.
Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale drove to Covenant Church/School in her Honda Fit this morning, parked, and shot her way into the building. She was armed with 2 assault-type guns and a 9 millimeter pistol. pic.twitter.com/mIk2pDmCwQ
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) March 28, 2023
He entered the school through a side entrance, which he shot open, and made his way from the first floor to the second floor, while he fired multiple random shots at whoever was in his path.
Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9 years old, were shot dead. Katherine Koonce, 60, and the school’s principal, Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, both 61, also died.
A team of five police officers intercepted Hale upstairs in the building, 15 minutes after the shooting started, and he was shot down.
The school where the attack took place is a private center located in the Green Hills area that serves students from preschool to sixth grade, that is, about 11 years old. On a normal day there are usually about 209 students in that educational center, which has more than 40 workers.
Regarding the other places where he was going to attack according to the manifest found at his home, the police said that “there was another location that was mentioned, but due to the threat assessment by the suspect, too much security, he decided not to do it.”
“That area was here in Nashville, so we are continuing that investigation,” added Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
Keep reading:
• VIDEO: Reporter covering Nashville shooting confesses live that she is a survivor of a childhood school shooting
• Police identify child and adult victims in the shooting in Nashville, Tennessee
• 7 dead in school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, including female shooter