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.
Samuels, according to Aaron, ultimately left MNPD in early 2024, but his departure was not revealed that year, including to Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and sued to compel the police department to release Hale’s full manifesto in May 2023.
Following Samuels’ departure, MNPD told The Star the Covenant case was assigned to another detective, who Aaron named as Detective Mathis. He said Mathis is a homicide detective who is balancing finishing the Covenant investigation with other homicide cases.
The Star asked MNPD for information about how to contact Samuels, but did not receive an immediate response.
Before leaving MNPD and Tennessee, Samuels was a key part of the investigation as the lead detective, having secured the warrant to search Hale’s residence, authored a document summarizing the killer’s years of mental health treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), and led the interview between MNPD detectives and Hale’s parents.
In the document titled “Vandy Psych,” where Samuels appears to have taken notes while reviewing Hale’s mental health history, the former detective revealed that Hale apparently told VUMC staff members she fantasized about killing her father.
“Thoughts of killing Dad in and struggles with mental health. Recent thoughts of going into a school and shooting a bunch of people,” Samuels wrote of Audrey Hale. “Homicidal thoughts with a plan. Misunderstood and felt like she needed to prove a point.”
During the MNPD interview with Hale’s parents, Samuels sought to reassure them with the help of another detective who told them MNPD did not consider the parents to be suspects, with Samuels adding, “You’re victims, too.”
The detective’s comments could suggest the investigation, at one stage, was investigating whether mental health practitioners who treated Hale may have neglected their duty to warn, which Tennessee Code 33-3-206 mandated at the time of Hale’s attack that such providers “shall take reasonable care to predict, warn of, or take precautions to protect the identified victim from the service recipient’s violent behavior.”
Tennessee Code 33-3-207 similarly required mental health professionals to identify intended victims, inform them of the statements made by those under their treatment, take steps to involuntarily commit the patient for treatment, and continue treating the patient for their mental health.
While MNPD Chief John Drake appeared to acknowledge mental health providers failed their duty to warn last year, Aaron later clarified this was not the chief’s position in a statement to The Star.
The revelation that Samuels left MNPD was provided after The Star questioned MNPD about new information claiming a police captain ordered officers not to complete necessary paperwork for specific evidence, and the FBI removed some evidence from the Hale residence without a chain of custody.
Additionally, while Hale was reported to have legally purchased seven firearms prior to her death, at least two of these weapons appear to be unaccounted for nearly two years after the attack.
The Star released Hale’s 2023 journal last year, and while the killer’s entire manifesto is reportedly around 1,000 pages, the roughly 90-page document confirmed Hale’s identity as a biological female who identified as a transgender male, revealed her obsession with a group of girls from her middle school, and exposed her extensive plans to attack the Christian school she once attended.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Covenant School Shooting Crime Scene” by Metro Nashville Police Department.
The FBI has to be investigated. in this. President Trump has started it so join in with him.
THE COVER UP
WOKE POLICIES of both the FBI, MNPD & Vanderbilt University Medical Center protect dangerous killers.
That’s the bottom line.
It was evident early on that important facts were being ignored & I would say covered up to protect Vanderbilt & whoever bought weapons for a mentally ill person.
In Tennessee, in order to purchase a firearm, one has to fill out Federal paperwork prior to sale.
It’s a crime to lie on that paperwork. Remember Hunter Bidens prosecution?
Where did Ms. Hale purchase the many weapons she possessed? Where the paperwork?
Who knew she had dangerous weapons, knowing she was both homicidal & suicidal?
Call me a conspiracy theorist. But her therapist probably knew. Did they contact the FBI? OR MNPD?
They are required by law to contact them in order to derain this person for a psych assessment.
Did her parents know?
Did her therapist know?
Who tried to abide by law & contact authorities.
I smell DEI POLICIES in all 3 agencies.
I don’t trust any of them.