A retired Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officer told The Michael Patrick Leahy Show on Tuesday that the psychologist who treated Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale referred her patient to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) for treatment and involuntary commitment after Hale expressed violent fantasies.
Retired MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson, who recently filed a 61-page complaint against the department and claimed the FBI told MNPD not to release documents from the Covenant investigation, revealed the information to The Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.
Davidson told Leahy the psychologist who referred Hale to VUMC is the same psychologist previously identified by The Star who closed her practice on December 31, 2022, just 87 days before Hale committed the horrific shooting that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three Covenant faculty members.
“There was communication, I believe, from the therapist to [Vanderbilt] Psych, and some of those records probably were shared. And [Vanderbilt] Psych records showed specific ideations, fantasies about mass shootings, doing that at the school,” Davidson told Leahy.
Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital – sometimes called “Vanderbilt Psych” – is a part of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center system.
Davidson, who left MNPD in January and was not involved with the case, explained that he was given the opportunity to review documents from other sources and at various points in the investigation. He stressed that he does not have access to the documents himself.
One of the police documents Davidson said he reviewed was a subpoena from an MNPD detective to VUMC, issued in either August or September of last year, which sought records related to Hale’s treatment.
Citing the documents he reviewed, Davidson said, “It appeared, at least detectives believed, that information from that therapist had been sent over to [VUMC] Psych as part of a treatment and that over there they had specific notes within, in-house, regarding specific things she was thinking about.”
Asked whether VUMC reported Hale’s violent ideation, which Davidson previously claimed to 99.7 WTN radio host Brian Wilson included fantasies of committing a school shooting and killing her parents, Davidson explained he did not have knowledge of any reports by VUMC to law enforcement.
“As far as I know, they did not report out,” said Davidson.
He confirmed, “As far as her ideations and stuff, I don’t believe they reported out. From my knowledge they didn’t.”
The revelation that Hale at one point received treatment at VUMC has not been previously reported, and Davidson told The Star it appeared the psychologist wanted Hale to be involuntarily committed.
“My impression from what I was seeing, seeing some documents, was that the therapist had actually made, I guess, a forced committal to them to get treatment,” Davidson told Leahy.
Asked about Hale’s treatment at VUMC, Davidson offered, “I assume they attempted to render mental health treatment, psychological treatment, but as far as I know I don’t think they reported out and said that there were specific ideations with a plan.”
The former MNPD officer continued, “They didn’t notify the police, and that’s where I think the public would want to know, if they had done that, and then detectives received that information, looked and saw that she had obtained firearms and might have possessed and had a reason to believe they conducted a search warrant, it is reasonable to believe that maybe these firearms could have been seized.”
Davidson also told Leahy that police have a “list of medications” prescribed to Hale but added that he did not know the prescribing physician.
The medications themselves were likely “for conditions like anxiety, depression,” Davidson told Leahy.
VUMC did not immediately respond to a press inquiry from The Star that sought to confirm Hale received treatment and determine whether they sought to report her alleged violent fantasies to police.
Davidson also told Leahy that he reviewed multiple pages of Hale’s writings, which have been referred to as a manifesto.
“There was a lot of fixation on perceived gender issues, gender identity, that kind of thing,” Davidson confirmed. “Being born the wrong way, and then being angry, it seems like at everyone in the world. Just life itself, for being born wrong.”
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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].
Background Photo “Vanderbilt University Medical Center” by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Too many variables are being folded into the discussion causing confusion. Forget the fact the therapist retired, there is nothing wrong with that, she earned her right to retire. The point of her making a referral is salient but not the key point in the discussion. As a licensed therapist she is required, by law, with the duty to warn. If she, while seeing the patient, received information of the patient’s plan to harm other she was obligated to report. It is that simple. Did she receive such information, specifically when? Did she fulfill her duty to warn? If she hadn’t received the threats, then there is no violation. If she did, but didn’t report, then she failed the patient and her profession. So, cut through all the smoke,” “what did she know and when did she know it”?