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.
MNPD told The Star that Hale, “owned six firearms during her life,” while the remaining weapon “was her father’s shotgun.”
Aaron stated the department returned the shotgun to the killer’s father, “after it was confirmed she never owned or handled that weapon.”
The MNPD report issued this week also offered a full history of the killer’s firearm ownership for the first time, revealing Hale first purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P-15 5.56mm carbine rifle in October 2020.
It revealed that Hale’s parents ultimately discovered this rifle’s existence in December 2020, but that her father argued their daughter should be allowed to keep the weapon, so long as she engaged in responsible gun ownership. Hale next purchased a Mossberg Maverick 88 12-Gauge shotgun in February 2021, which the report stated quickly became known to her father.
According to the report, a meeting between Hale, her parents, and her therapist resulted in the killer agreeing to sell two of the weapons.
At the time, the report is unclear about whether the killer’s parents knew Hale possessed the KelTec Sub 2000 9mm carbine she used during the attack or the Mossberg Shockwave 12-Gauge shotgun that she labeled “Slugger,” which police found in her closet during their search of the family’s home.
After Hale agreed to sell her weapons, the report states that she later purchased the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mm pistol and LeadStar Grunt-15 5.56mm pistol and that through the act of buying the replacement weapons, Hale experienced a sense of satisfaction or revenge toward her therapist.
The department’s acknowledgment that Hale only purchased six weapons and that its original statement was in error comes after a source told The Star in February that an MNPD captain ordered subordinates not to follow normal evidence handling procedures and that the FBI spirited away some evidence from the Hale family residence without documenting its chain of custody.
Despite The Star legally obtaining and publishing the killer’s 2023 manifesto last year, Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy are plaintiffs in ongoing state and federal lawsuits seeking to compel MNPD and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings.
In the state lawsuit, Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled on July 4, 2024, that not one page of Hale’s writings should be released, citing both the then-ongoing police investigation and the claims of Covenant parents who assert they own the copyright to the killer’s written materials. Leahy and SNDM expect to win their appeal, which was filed last year.
SNDMÂ and Leahy have simultaneously extended a settlement offer that would see them drop their litigation against the FBI in exchange for FBI Director Kash Patel dropping the agency’s objection to releasing Hale’s writings, an action he suggested former FBI Director Christopher Wray could have taken in December 2023. The Department of Justice has confirmed the FBI is considering the offer.
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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].
