COVERAGE OF COVENANT SHOOTING INVESTIGATION – The Tennessee Star has obtained a large number of case documents regarding the investigation of Audrey Elizabeth Hale and the mass shooting she perpetrated at Covenant Presbyterian School on March 27, 2023.
Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said he believes Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) connection to Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, is the “biggest part” of the unraveling story.
On June 7, The Star was the first to report that Hale was a 22-year patient of VUMC from 2001 until the time of the horrific school shooting on March 27, 2023.
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The Tennessee Star received a response from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) regarding its apparent treatment of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, which was revealed in a number of Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) documents obtained by The Star.
After The Star obtained a police summary describing 75 pages of notes retrieved from VUMC following a June 1, 2023 search warrant for information related to Hale’s treatment, and asked VUMC president and CEO Jeff Balser for comment, a spokesman said he was unable to confirm Hale’s treatment due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act of 1996.
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The Tennessee Star retrieved metadata from the Microsoft Word document titled “Vandy Psych,” which contains notes summarizing 75 pages of documents retrieved from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) following a June 1, 2023 search warrant for materials related to its treatment of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
The Star reported it obtained the document from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation on Wednesday, when its contents were published alongside the revelation a source claimed Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake acknowledged VUMC failed its duty to warn Hale’s intended victims after she expressed fantasies of killing her father and enacting a school shooting.
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Multiple entries within the journal police recovered from the vehicle driven by Audrey Elizabeth Hale to the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, when she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult staff members, appear to corroborate previous reporting that the killer became “obsessed” with her former middle school basketball teammates.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation, and has since reported extensively about entries which refer to two of Hale’s former teammates on the Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School basketball team.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote several entries in the journal police recovered from her vehicle that referenced her mental health, including an entry about her therapist, multiple references to autism, anxiety, and one entry that mentions bipolar disorder.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the police investigation into her March 27, 2023 attack which claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult staff members at the Covenant School.
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Tennessee Star editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy unveiled the Nashville Covenant School mass shooter’s personal writings earlier this month, but no mainstream news outlets appear to have reported about the revelations, and only one has reported on the subsequent legal battle that Leahy faces for uncovering the documents.
Additionally, while journalists’ rights organizations traditionally would have provided counsel to a reporter like Leahy in court, few are willing to comment on the case, and Leahy is being represented by America First Legal and Daniel Horwitz, a Nashville-based attorney who focuses on the First Amendment.
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The Tennessee Star has obtained a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) internal document labeled “Vandy Psych” which appears to be notes taken by an MNPD officer tasked with reviewing documents obtained via a search warrant granted for Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, part of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), on June 1, 2023.
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Audrey Elizabeth Hale sought forgiveness from God in a journal entry dated March 27, 2023, the date she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults during her devastating attack on the Covenant School.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings, recovered from her vehicle by police at the Covenant School, from a source familiar with the investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote entries in the journal police recovered from her vehicle that seems to corroborate media reports suggesting Hale had childlike interests and wanted to be a child prior to her devastating attack on March 27, 2023.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale mentioned consuming pornography in the journal police recovered from her vehicle, and in one entry wrote she must “resort to cartoon porn” due to her inability to find a romantic partner.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained the journal police obtained from Hale’s vehicle after her devastating attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adult staff members at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023 from a source familiar with the investigation.
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Audrey Elizabeth Hale referred to individuals or groups who she disliked as “robots,” “clones,” or “not real” in various entries found in the journal police recovered from her vehicle after she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adult staff members at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained approximately 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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The Show Cause Hearing scheduled Monday by Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles concluded after the judge repeatedly referenced her prior order in which she explained the possibility of appointing an outside attorney to investigate and prosecute possible contempt charges against Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star and the CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM).
Myles ordered on June 10 for Leahy to appear in court for the Show Cause Hearing after a source familiar with the Covenant investigation provided The Star with a journal written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, as well as police documents related to the Covenant investigation, and The Star began reporting Hale’s own words and the contents of investigative documents.
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On the day when The Star News Network’s Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy is scheduled to appear before a judge for publishing information from the journal of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, news networks across America and the world have picked up the story.
Leahy was ordered to appear Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles for a show cause hearing on Monday, to determine whether publishing the information interfered with Tennessee lawsuit in which Leahy and Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM) are seeking to compel the full release of Hale’s writings, including those that have been called a manifesto, by the Metro Nashville Police Department.
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Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in her journal, found in the killer’s vehicle by police after her March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School, that her “thoughts about death” changed “significantly” in the period after her middle school basketball teammate and classmate Sydney Sims died tragically following a 2022 car accident.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages from Hale’s journal from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote a Valentine’s Day entry to the journal police recovered from her vehicle after she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult staff members at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained approximately 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote at least 17 times about her gender, struggle with her gender identity, or transgenderism either directly or indirectly in the journal police recovered from her vehicle.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last week it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from the journal, as well as documents related to the police investigation, from a source familiar with the Covenant case.
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Former acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark raised three concerns on Thursday in response to news that Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star and CEO of its publisher Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), was compelled to appear in court on Monday.
Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles first ordered Leahy to appear in court on June 10 after The Star published dozens of articles reporting the journal entries of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale. The Star confirmed last week it obtained Hale’s journal and a portion of police documents from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in the journal police recovered from her vehicle about her social isolation and inability to live independently.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last week it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation, including the lengthy entry titled “My Brain… This Life.”
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Members of the Tennessee General Assembly took to X Friday to defend Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, who was ordered to appear before Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles for a show cause hearing on Monday.
Myles issued the order after The Star published dozens of articles reporting on writings from a journal recovered from Covenant School mass shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male, wrote in her journal about consuming Bud Light just over one month after the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewing company paid Dylan Mulvaney, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, to promote its product.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last week it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings, recovered from her vehicle by police, from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Friday confirmed the authenticity of the 80 pages of writings from the journal of Covenant School killer Audrey Hale, which were obtained by The Tennessee Star last week.
A Friday morning legal filing by the police department involves a declaration by MNPD Lieutenant Alfredo Arevalo, who claimed to have information about the possible identity of the individual or group of people who provided the Covenant materials to The Star.
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A handful of entries in the journal recovered from the vehicle of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale appear to suggest she might have assigned a numerological meaning to the date of her devastating attack which claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last week it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation. Among these entries are multiple pages that suggest Hale assigned special significance to the numbers 2 and 7.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote about drinking Bud Light around the time she published a now-deleted “suicide note” on social media, according to a journal police recovered from her vehicle.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last week it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation, including an entry that mentioned consuming alcohol less than two weeks before her devastating attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult staff members on March 27, 2023.
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Michael Patrick Leahy, who is the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star and the CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc., on Thursday filed an emergency appeal with the Middle Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Leahy seeks to obtain a stay to would stop the Show Cause Hearing set in the June 10 order by Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles for Monday in the Tennessee case to unseal the writings of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
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An emergency motion filed on Wednesday requests Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles set aside her June 10 court order which established a show cause hearing on Monday after dozens of articles including writings from a journal recovered from Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale were published by The Tennessee Star.
Michael Patrick Leahy, who is the CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc. and the editor-in-chief of The Star, was ordered by Myles to appear in court on Monday after WSMV 4 reporter Stacey Cameron claimed he called the court to ask Myles “if she was considering holding the Star or anyone else in contempt” due to its reporting.
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A photograph of medication bottles prescribed to Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale reveals she was given a fifth, previously unknown prescription. This is in addition to the four medications previously reported by The Tennessee Star.
The image of the prescription bottles, obtained by The Star from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation, depicts four orange, semi-transparent prescription bottles with blue lids and white labels. All of the bottles are prescribed to Audrey E. Hale and bear the name of a psychiatric nurse practitioner who runs a practice based in Nashville.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote entries in her journal about her social isolation about one month before her devastating attack on March 27, 2023.
The Star confirmed last week it obtained 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a journal police recovered from her vehicle at the Covenant School from a source familiar with the investigation.
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The FBI declined on Monday to confirm to The Tennessee Star the authenticity of a memo it sent to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) that “strongly discourages” the release of “legacy tokens” left by those who commit devastating attacks like the Covenant School attack orchestrated by Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
The Star published the memo last week, revealing it was addressed to MNPD Chief John Drake and sent on May 11, 2023.
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Before Audrey Elizabeth Hale claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults in her devastating March 27, 2023 attack at the Covenant School, she wrote in a journal recovered by police of her desire to “inflict pain” and share the “same fate” with a former friend and middle school classmate who is now a Nashville radio personality.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last Wednesday it obtained photographic images showing 80 pages written by Hale in a journal recovered from her vehicle from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale expressed frustrations in her journal with her brain in entries that appeared to reference her purported autism diagnosis and struggles with gender identity.
The Tennessee Star reported last Wednesday it obtained 80 pages of Hale’s writings, in the form of 40 photographic images of her journal captured by law enforcement.
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Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star who has reported extensively on The Star’s obtaining of more than 80 documents related to the case of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, said Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has refused to respond to any of his press inquiries surrounding its involvement in the case of Hale, who reportedly had been receiving treatment from the hospital since 2001.
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Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, could face contempt charges or other punitive action on June 17 over his publication’s reporting of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Hale after her devastating attack on the Covenant School on March 27, 2023 that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults.
The court date was set following an unsubstantiated allegation from WSMV 4 reporter Stacey Cameron to Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote about having “too much estrogen” and described herself as “a sad, lonely boy,” in the journal police recovered from her vehicle after her attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults on March 27, 2023.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation, including several several entries where Hale wrote about her struggles with gender identity.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale claimed in her journal, recovered by police after her March 27, 2023 attack, that she would be unable to lead an independent life due to her purported autism diagnosis.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages written by Hale from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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The journal recovered by police from the vehicle driven by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale contains more than a dozen entries about Paige Averianna Patton, a Nashville-based radio personality who Hale previously befriended as a middle school student.
The Tennessee Star reported last Wednesday it obtained about 80 pages from Hale’s journal via a source close to the Covenant investigation, including a total of 18 that appear to mention Patton either by name or indirectly.
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The Tennessee Star has obtained the suicide note left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale to her parents before her devastating March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators found the note posted to Hale’s bedroom wall, which The Star has learned was adorned with childhood memorabilia and photos.
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Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote multiple entries in a journal recovered from her vehicle that suggested planned at one point for her attack on the Covenant School to occur in January 2023.
The Tennessee Star reported last Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale appeared to refer to herself as “white nothingness” twice and express her physical attraction to “brown girls” in the journal police recovered from her vehicle.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation. The writings were recovered by the Metro Nashville Police Department on the day of the March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.
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The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is silent about whether Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale sought transgender drugs, surgeries or other gender affirming treatment following the revelation she was a 22-year mental health patient of staff at VUMC.
VUMC has not replied to multiple requests for comment from The Tennessee Star following the revelations, which include confirmation that Hale was prescribed at least four medications from VUMC and was treated by mental health professionals associated with VUMC since April 2001.
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The journal recovered from the vehicle driven by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale includes at least five entries expressing animosity toward her father, including one page where Hale wrote of her desire to kill him.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages written by Audrey Hale from a source close to the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale made a list of activities to complete prior to March 27, 2023, when she committed the devastating attack which claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings that were recovered from the vehicle she drove to the school from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Hale wrote extensively about a former classmate and friend who died suddenly following a 2022 vehicle accident, seemingly detailing fantasies in which they would reunite after Hale’s death.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings that were recovered from her vehicle after her March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults working at the school.
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Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who orchestrated the devastating Covenant School attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults on March 27, 2023, wrote a list of her professional failures in the journal police recovered from her vehicle.
The Tennessee Star reported on Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings from a source close to the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in a journal recovered from her vehicle that she planned her attack for five years and prepared meticulously until her devastating plot was “near perfection.”
The Tennessee Star reported on Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings which police recovered from her vehicle from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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99.7 WTN afternoon radio host Brian Wilson on Friday unveiled portions of recorded interviews of Metro Nashville Police Department investigators revealing details and asking questions about Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale to her parents.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Hale, who was born a biological female but identified as a transgender male during her March 27, 2023 attack, described herself as the “most unhappy boy alive” in a journal police recovered from her vehicle.
The Tennessee Star reported on Wednesday it obtained dozens of pages from the journal Hale brought with her to the Covenant School from a source close to the investigation. In this entry, Hale described struggling with gender identity.
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Covenant School killer Audrey Hale wrote in a journal, recovered from her vehicle after the attack, that she was accused of being “bi-polar” and called a number listed online as the National Suicide Prevention Helpline five times just over two months before the shooting.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on Wednesday it has about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from her journal, which were obtained from a source close to the Covenant investigation. In this journal entry, dated January 16, 2023, Hale also expressed concerns about losing her possessions after her death.
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Metro Nashville Police Department learned Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale was a 22-year patient of mental health professionals at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) on March 27, 2023, the same day she orchestrated her devastating attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults working at the school.
The Tennessee Star obtained the June 1, 2023 affidavit filed by an MNPD detective to obtain a search warrant for VUMC from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
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Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale reportedly used funds from a federal Pell grant to buy the guns she used to perpetrate a mass shooting in March, 2023.
99.7 WTN afternoon radio host Brian Wilson reported Wednesday that Hale “took money from an education grant she received to purchase her weapons and to pay for training at a local gun range.”
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99.7 WTN afternoon radio host Brian Wilson asked three big questions about the Covenant School shooting investigation in an on-air report on Thursday that he posted to his website.
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