The FBI on Monday released new writings by Covenant School killer Audrey Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023, revealing the killer listed hatred for religion as reason to attack the Christian elementary school she once attended.
Hale included the motivator in a list of “advantages” and “disadvantages” the killer titled, “The Covenant School – Alternate Target / 2nd Choice,” which also noted her past history at the school, her knowledge of its layout, but also listed that it was a “bigger school,” and a “private school,” as well as a “school/church,” which meant “more revenue real estate.”
The killer wrote as her last item in the list of reasons to select Covenant as her target, “Christian school (hate religion).”
In the previous section of Hale’s writings released by the FBI, which were dated throughout 2018 and 2019, the killer wrote that she considered her Christian religion an impediment to her emerging views on sexuality and gender identity.
“I have suppressed and hid my real gender identity for so long, and a big contributor to it – the nemesis of my true peace within myself – is my spirituality of being a Christian,” wrote Hale in one entry.
In another, the killer opined, “I feel my Christianity is being crucially at threat [and] hangs on a [slender rope] in the balance. It is my sexuality that wants me to cut the rope.”
Despite writing that her gender identity was oppositional to Christianity, the killer nonetheless continued to invoke God in later journal entries, including those written in March 2023.
“Forgive me God, this act will be inglorious,” the killer wrote on the day of the attack.
The new writings released by the FBI also show that the killer selected March 27, 2023, for her attack on the Covenant School as early as May 9, 2022, when she selected the date tentatively while considering other targets.
Within just the latest tranche of the killer’s writings, she also considered attacking the Opry Mills Mall, the Mall at Green Hills, the middle school she once attended, and Belmont University.
This release of the killer’s writings is the latest since the FBI pledged to provide redacted versions to the public to settle Biden-era litigation, including the lawsuit filed by Star News Digital Media, Inc., the parent company of The Tennessee Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
An unredacted version of the killer’s final writings was legally obtained by The Star and published in September 2024. The Star was nominated for a Dao Prize in Best Local Journalism for its reporting on the Covenant case.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
