The final report on the Covenant School shooting, released by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Wednesday, seems to contradict a key claim made by the parents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023. According to the report, Ronald and Norma Hale became aware their daughter legally purchased her first firearm in December 2020, and her father was aware of she subsequently purchased a shotgun the following year. MNPD claimed that Norma Hale objected to her daughter’s ownership of the weapons, but that Ronald Hale supported responsible gun ownership.

Just days after the attack committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) stated publicly that the killer legally purchased seven weapons over the course of her life. However, the final report MNPD released on Wednesday only accounted for six firearm purchases made by the killer, and MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron on Friday told The Tennessee Star that the seventh weapon actually belonged to the killer’s father, and was apparently mistakenly included in the total count of firearms owned by Hale.

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed through the report published upon the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School shooting that Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023, left a “will” that contained specific instructions for the “distribution” of key personal items, including her “possessions, thumb drives, writings, and artwork.” This fact seemingly contradicts the previous claim made in probate court by the killer’s parents, Ronald and Norma Hale, whose attorney stated in a June 2023 court filing that their daughter did not have a will and died intestate. 

Internal FBI documents obtained by independent journalist Breanna Morello via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, suggest the agency’s Behavioral Analysis Unit-1 (BAU-1) was enlisted by the FBI’s Memphis Field Office to assist with its investigation into Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on March 30, 2023, just three days after Hale, who identified as a transgender man at the time of her death, claimed the lives of six at the Nashville school she once attended on March 27.  The documents, which are heavily redacted and pertain to evidence gathered by the FBI’s field office in Memphis and BAU-1 pursuant to the Covenant investigation, were provided to The Tennessee Star on Friday. 

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, called out the Metro Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) lack of interest and work in obtaining the full mental health record of 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the self-identified transgender man who carried out the Covenant School shooting on March 27, 2023.

Homicide detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) “abandoned” efforts to obtain the complete mental health records for Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after internal case files were obtained by The Tennessee Star and “Louder with Crowder” months after the attack.  MNPD closed its investigation and released its final case file on Wednesday, more than two years after the attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School, which revealed that law enforcement “abandoned” efforts to obtain medical records from Hale’s final therapist, as well as those from an eating disorder clinic where the killer attended an intensive outpatient program in 2017, over unspecified leaks to the media.

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023, shared that experienced both “suicidal ideation and homicidal fantasies,” which involved thoughts of killing her own father, when speaking with a therapist in 2019. According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) report released on Wednesday, following the department’s conclusion of its Covenant investigation, Hale expressed suicidal and homicidal thoughts in journal entries beginning in 2018, and ultimately divulged this information to a therapist in 2019. “During therapy sessions in the spring and summer of 2019, Hale’s therapist noticed this anger with greater frequency,” MNPD homicide detectives wrote in the report. “Eventually, Hale let slip she had suicidal ideations and homicidal fantasies, though she was quick to explain she didn’t have a plan for either.” This apparently prompted the therapist to urge Hale to undergo a psychological assessment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in June 2019, where The Tennessee Star previously learned that Hale was twice evaluated for commitment. During this assessment, MNPD noted VUMC mental health professionals “made no mention of psychosis and noted Hale denied having any plans to harm herself or others, nor…

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) report published following the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School killings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man prior to the March 27, 2023 attack, revealed the killer left behind 1,299 pages of written materials spread across more than a dozen notebooks, in addition to videos and drawings. When The Tennessee Star obtained the killer’s 2023 journal from a source familiar with the investigation last June and published it in its entirety four months later, it learned that Hale produced as many as 1,000 pages in other journals over the course of years.

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the Metro Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) 48-page report into the Covenant School attack committed on March 27, 2023 by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale appears to be “political” and “missed the mark” as it comes to its conclusion that the killer carried out the attack entirely for “notoriety.”

Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, said the Metro Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) 48-page report, which concluded that the Covenant School attack committed on March 27, 2023, by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, was fueled by the killer’s desire for notoriety appears to be “whitewashed.” On Wednesday, MNPD announced the conclusion of its more than two-year investigation into the attack by releasing the report, which ultimately concluded that Hale, despite identifying as a transgender man before killing six at the Christian school she once attended, carried out the pre-planned attack based on her desire for “notoriety.”

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Wednesday concluded its investigation into the Covenant School attack committed on March 27, 2023 by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man prior to killing six at the Christian school she once attended, sharing key findings about the investigation in a 48-page report. Despite needing more than two years to complete its investigation, MNPD confirmed that “Hale acted alone during the attack itself,” and no one around the killer had knowledge she was planning the attack. 

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, called on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release the long-awaited documents relating to the Covenant School shooting as the bureau’s deputy director, Dan Bongino, said he and Director Kash Patel are moving to address “transparency issues” that have plagued the federal agency in recent years.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Sunday said that he and Director Kash Patel are moving to address the “transparency issues” that have plagued the federal agency in recent years, urging the public to give them time to produce tangible results. Bongino, who was selected to serve as the FBI’s second in command by President Donald Trump in February, delivered the update in a post to the social media platform X, where he said he will “be posting regular information updates” about the agency’s transparency efforts.

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the continued withholding of materials relating to the Covenant School killer is “insulting” to the public as it nears two years since the shooting took place. On Monday, The Star reported that the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said it expects to make an announcement regarding the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School shooting sometime in the next two weeks.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) expects to make an announcement regarding the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School shooting sometime in the next two weeks, the agency told The Tennessee Star on Friday. With the forthcoming announcement likely to occur in April, it seems clear any conclusion of the case will come more than two years after 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender man, and killed three students and three faculty members at her former Christian elementary school on March 27, 2023. 

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said a “big house cleaning” appears to be needed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as the bureau continues to stall on the release of much-anticipated documents relating to the Covenant School shooting and the late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said there is “concern” behind the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) denial of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Star that sought disclosure from the agency about its “legacy tokens” concept, especially since the bureau is now officially headed by Director Kash Patel.

The FBI on Wednesday declined the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Tennessee Star that sought disclosure from the agency about its “legacy tokens” concept that was cited in the May 2023 memo that “strongly” advised Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) not to release the manifesto left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.  Their refusal came in response to a FOIA request filed by The Star on February 27. The Star sought the agency’s internal copy of the memo, the identity of the FBI employees who authorized and sent it, as well as a list and copies of similar memos sent to other law enforcement agencies, and all internal communications which led to the commission of the 2018 research paper that appeared to offer the agency’s first public definition of “legacy tokens.”

A review by The Tennessee Star of the original FBI materials containing the term “legacy tokens,” which the agency defined in 2018 as any item left by a mass killer to explain their actions, suggests the suppression of such materials is not a policy of the federal government, but instead is the informal guidance of one Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), one of a collection of groups nestled within the agency’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), which itself is part of the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG).  So-called “legacy tokens” were the subject of the May 11, 2023 memo sent by the FBI’s CIRG to Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake, “strongly” advising against the release of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian school she once attended on March 27, 2023. 

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has the opportunity under the new leadership of Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino to reform its standard when investigating mass killers, specifically its policy regarding legacy tokens.

The Tennessee Star on Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting the FBI provide all of its internal records regarding “legacy tokens,” including those related to the May 2023 memo that “strongly” advised the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) not to release documents like the manifesto left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. Obtained by The Star last June, the May 11, 2023 memo was addressed to MNPD Chief John Drake and sent from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, part of the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group, from an address in Quantico, Virginia.

The Tennessee Star on Friday sent a letter urging newly-confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel drop the agency’s opposition to the release of the full manifesto left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023. Both Star News Digital Media Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that seeks to compel the FBI to release Hale’s full writings. Hale reportedly left about 1,000 pages in journals that police recovered from the residence where the 28-year-old lived with her parents.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) is reportedly more than 100 officers short of its staffing goal, and while the department has increased its numbers in recent years, its efforts were hampered by 76 individuals who either resigned or retired from the police force over the course of 2024. According to a Thursday report by Nashville Banner, the city’s budget for MNPD authorizes 1,658 officers, but the department is still 104 members short of its maximum police force. It additionally reported that while the department has 52 prospective officers completing the MNPD training academy.

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) recently confirmed to The Tennessee Star that former Detective Bobby Samuels, who was the lead detective investigating the Covenant School shooting committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale on March 27, 2023, is no longer a member of the police department. According to MNPD Spokesman Don Aaron in a Saturday email, Samuels announced his resignation from MNPD about one year ago, at the end of 2023, when the detective apparently said he intended to also leave Tennessee in order to be near family.

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Monday declined to provide additional details to The Tennessee Star about the firearms legally purchased by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. MNPD declined to provide the information just days after a source told The Star that a police captain ordered officers not to complete standard evidence documentation procedures during the search of Hale’s residence, and that the FBI absconded with certain evidence without no chain of custody documenting its transfer.

A source familiar with the investigation into the March 27, 2023 attack by Audrey Elizabeth Hale on the Covenant School told The Tennessee Star on Thursday that a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) captain, who led the department’s search of the killer’s residence, ordered police officers not to complete form 110 documents for items obtained during the search conducted on the day of the attack. This source additionally told The Star that these items were carted away by the FBI, and that no chain of custody exists for the digital evidence obtained during the search of Hale’s home. Further, the source told The Star that firearms were plainly visible in the killer’s bedroom when police conducted their search, but that this evidence has been suppressed from the public.

Attorneys representing Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM) and Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, on Thursday received confirmation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the FBI is considering an offer that would see federal agency release the full manifesto written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man before she killed six at the Christian elementary school she once attended in Nashville on March 27, 2023. A DOJ official confirmed to an attorney representing SNDM the FBI is considering dropping its opposition to the release of Hale’s writings, which reportedly include about 1,000 handwritten pages that the 28-year-old began writing in middle school.

President Joe Biden last week honored Metro Nashville Police (MNPD) Chief John Drake and the Nashville police officers who responded to the Covenant School shooting by awarding them the Medal of Valor, while the department reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland met with the Nashville police in the White House. In posts to the social media platform X, the MNPD wrote, “Our Covenant School heroes, accompanied by Chief Drake, are at the White House & have just received our nation’s Medal of Valor from President Biden in the Oval Office. Attorney General Merrick Garland met with the team in the Roosevelt Room.”

In 2024, The Tennessee Star reported multiple revelations about Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after obtaining the killer’s journal and a selection of documents related to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case from a source familiar with the investigation in June 2024. The Star first shared on June 4 that a retired MNPD lieutenant said police knew Hale was a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center immediately after searching her family’s home in March 2023, and on June 19, confirmed it obtained an internal police document labeled “Vandy Psych” that appeared to include investigative notes about the killer’s time as a mental health patient.

Elle Palmer, who identified as a transgender man through most of her teen years before detransitioning to her biological, female gender, that early experiences with mental health treatments are “absolutely” a “risk factor” for a desire to transition genders later in life. In an interview conducted after Palmer traveled to Washington, D.C. to support Tennessee’s law banning transgender treatments for minors, she told The Star that she had a psychiatrist by time she was 11, and said, “I absolutely think it’s a risk factor for transition.”