The search warrant served by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to obtain information from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) about Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, obtained by The Tennessee Star, reveals Hale was prescribed at least four medications from VUMC staff.
According to notes taken by a person who reviewed documents obtained when the search warrant was executed, Hale was given access to Buspirone, Lexapro or Escitalopram, Hydroxyzine, and a sodium chloride nasal spray by doctors at VUMC.
Lexapro or Escitalopram is a depression medication from the family of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Common side effects for Lexapro include “mood swings, headache, tiredness, sleep changes, and brief feelings similar to electric shock,” according to WebMD, which added that “[s]ome conditions may become worse when this drug is suddenly stopped.”
Buspirone is an anxiety medication that the National Library of Medicine explains was first “developed as an antipsychotic” but later determined to have “useful anxiolytic features.”
The government website explains, “Buspirone has recently come into favor, primarily due to its decreased side-effect profile,” when compared to other anxiety medications. Buspirone is not considered a benzodiazepine or barbiturate.
Side effects of Buspirone include abnormal dreams, confusion, excitement, nervousness, outbursts of anger, musculoskeletal pain, tremors, and physical weakness, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Hydroxyzine, according to the government website Medical Line Plus, is an allergy medication that can also be used “alone or with other medications in adults and children to relieve anxiety and tension.”
Potential side effects of hydroxyzine include dry mouth, confusion, dizziness, headache, unintentional trembling or shaking, and seizures.
The sodium chloride nasal spray given to Hale is generally used to moisten the nasal passages.
Concrete information about the medications Hale was using at the time of her devastating attack, which claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults at Covenant School, remains sparse, as blood tests conducted for Hale’s autopsy did not appear to include screens to detect the types of medication revealed from the search warrant.
While Hale’s autopsy did not determine what medications were in her body, it did not note any medications found in her stomach.
However, Medical News Today reports that using Lexapro and Buspirone simultaneously, or Lexapro and Hydroxyzine simultaneously, can “increase the risk of side effects” from both Lexapro and the other drugs, meaning Hale’s mental state could have been adversely impacted at the time of her March 27, 2023 attack.
The search warrant also resulted in information that confirmed Hale had thoughts of killing her father and committing a school shooting, had violent fantasies, and at one point expressed homicidal thoughts with a plan.
Elsewhere, Hale apparently told VUMC staff that she would not act on her fantasies. While she denied experiencing suicidal and homicidal ideations to VUMC, staff elsewhere reported she experienced them.
At one point, MNPD learned Hale was “[t]hinking a lot about death, both suicidal and homicidal,” and had fantasized about becoming a school shooter.
The Star on Wednesday published the subpoena issued by MNPD to VUMC to obtain “any and all records of medical and psychological treatment received by Audrey Hale” at the facility.
That subpoena aimed to determine whether there was a connection between the information Hale told VUMC staff and the attack. The detective who signed the subpoena noted that the information would be used to determine Hale’s “mental state before the incident and at the time of the incident” and to identify, apprehend, and prosecute potential suspects.
Retired MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson told The Star on Tuesday that Hale’s psychologist previously referred her to VUMC after she expressed violent fantasies, but said VUMC did not report the fantasies to law enforcement to the best of his knowledge.
Michael Patrick Leahy, who is the editor-in-chief of The Star, and the publication’s parent company Star News Digital Media, Inc., are plaintiffs in lawsuits which seek to compel both MNPD and the FBI to release Hale’s writings, including those that have been called a manifesto.
On Wednesday, The Star confirmed it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings, recovered from her vehicle, via a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
The Star additionally published an FBI memo sent to MNPD Chief John Drake that discouraged the release of “legacy tokens” left by individuals like Hale. An FBI definition indicates that “legacy tokens” would comprise all of Hale’s writings, encompassing both those obtained by The Star and those sought in the lawsuit.
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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].
Too little too late. It would be interesting to find out if she was taking testosterone, however, those meds we now know she was on could make one violent, especially knowing she was potentially psychotic to begin with.
The same can be said about mental health facilities like Vanderbilt, who knew she was a threat and did not report it to either her parents or the authorities. Vanderbilt was clearly negligent because they knew.
The same should apply to the “Doctor” she was seeing at Vanderbilt. Staff there were aware of her violent fantasies and did NOT report them.
If people think they can hold firearms manufacturers liable for damages then the same should be used against the pharmaceutical companies.