Tag: Hale Manifesto

After Appeals Court Loss, Nashville and Covenant School Parents Ask TN Supreme Court for New Open Records Act Exceptions in Manifesto Lawsuit

Tom Pappert

Metro Nashville, the Covenant School, parents of some Covenant School students, and the Covenant Presbyterian Church, asked the Tennessee Supreme Court for permission to appeal the transparency victory handed to The Tennessee Star in February by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in the lawsuit to force the release of the Covenant School shooter’s writings.

After the appellate judges determined there was no reason to continue shielding the release of the files, citing the conclusion of the investigation by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), and lack of any ongoing prosecutions, the losing side told the high court that the Court of Appeals decision fails to uphold the Victims Rights Amendment (VRA) of the Tennessee Constitution, and that its decision means the VRA is no longer in effect after a case concludes.

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Two Law Firms that Opposed Release of Covenant Manifesto Hired by Nashville Electric Service to Prepare Report on Power Outage Debacle

Tom Pappert
Nashville Electric Service

The Nashville Electric Service (NES) on Wednesday named the two law firms who will oversee the completion of an independent report from a third-party contractor over the response by the municipally-owned power company to Winter Storm Fern.

Despite NES acknowledging its transparency-related communication shortcomings during the storm, both of the law firms enlisted by the municipally owned utility were notably retained in efforts to prevent the documents left from the Covenant School shooter from being released to The Tennessee Star and other news outlets. 

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Court of Appeals Gives The Tennessee Star Major Victory in Covenant Manifesto Case

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Tennessee Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a major victory to The Tennessee Star in the lawsuit to obtain the writings left by the Covenant School killer, reversing much of the trial court’s July 4, 2024 ruling, and paving the way for the eventual release of redacted versions of the killer’s writings, as well as files from the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigation.

In an opinion released nearly three years after Audrey Elizabeth Hale killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, the panel of judges determined Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles incorrectly determined the killer’s writings could not be released due to copyright and school safety exemptions.

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Covenant School Shooter Listed Guns Used in Popular Movies, Emphasizing ‘Bourne’ Franchise

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Covenant School killer Audrey Hale dedicated two pages of her 2021 journal, which was recently released by the FBI, detailing “guns used in movies,” with a particular focus on firearms depicted in two films within “Bourne” franchise.

Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian elementary school she once attended on March 27, 2023, claimed to list the weapons used in “The Bourne Identity,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” “Fargo,” “The Dead Zone,” and “Stand By Me,” in a two-page journal entry written pages apart from wish-lists of guns and accessories for her secret arsenal and transaction records that show how she used federal Pell Grant money to cover the transactions.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Resumed Secret Purchases with Grant Money After Parents Learned of Hidden Guns: New Writings

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale - Covenant shooting

Writings by the Covenant School killer, released this week by the FBI, confirms she resumed using federal student aid to purchase and hide firearms at her family residence immediately after agreeing to sell the guns following a confrontation by her parents. 

The manifesto writings published on Monday contained dozens of pages devoted to financial transactions related to guns and accessories purchased or sold by Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old who identified as a transgender man until her death on March 27, 2023, when she killed six at the Covenant School.

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New Writings by Trans-Identified Covenant School Killer Show Desire to Kill White People Lasted Years

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Transgender-identified school shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, in a journal entry released this week by the FBI, shows that the killer cited the race of the predominantly white student body at the Covenant School as early as 2021.

An entry from one of the killer’s later journals, but first published in 2023, suggested she maintained the racial animosity until shortly before killing six at the Christian elementary school she once attended on March 27, 2023. 

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Trans-Identified Covenant Killer Worried Canceled Plan to Attack ‘Black School’ Would Inspire ‘White Shooters’ in Newly Released Writings

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI released journal entries on Monday that show the Covenant School killer wrote a list of “advantages” and “disadvantages” regarding a scrapped plan to attack the Nashville middle school she once attended, revealing she harbored several race-based concerns over attacking the predominantly black student body.

In an entry written sometime in 2021, and located one page after Audrey Hale listed her hatred of religion as an “advantage” to attacking the Christian elementary school where she killed six on March 27, 2023, the killer specifically expressed her concerns about the effect of a potential attack at I.T. Creswell Middle School would have on black people.

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New Covenant Manifesto Writings Show Trans-Identified Killer Listed ‘Hate Religion’ as Reason to Attack Christian School

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

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.”

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Latest FBI Release of Covenant School Manifesto Files Appears to Confirm Trans-Identified Killer Bought Guns with Pell Grant Money

Tom Pappert

The FBI on Monday released another 230 manifesto pages written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man on March 27, 2023, when the 28-year-old killed six at the Covenant School in Nashville, the Christian elementary school she once attended. 

This latest journal appears to have been written sometime in late 2021, and includes lengthy sections about the weapons the killer planned to use to commit a mass shooting at a school sometime that year.

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Third-Party Review of Nashville Police Misconduct Claims Concludes Without Interviewing Former Lead Detective on Covenant Case

Tom Pappert
Nashville Metro Police Department

The independent law firm appointed to review the allegations against Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) completed their investigation earlier this month, determining the claims raised last year by retired member of the police department either were not borne out by evidence or did not rise to the level of a policy violation or official misconduct.

Enlisted by Mayor Freddie O’Connell last year to investigate the whistleblower complaint submitted by retired MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson, the law firm Butler Snow announced on December 18 that it completed its report, which was published December 22 by Nashville Banner. 

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Court of Appeals Oral Argument in Covenant Case: Attorney for Tennessee Star Says Trial Court Decision Citing Copyright Claim Creates Legal ‘Black Hole’

Tom Pappert

A panel of three judges on the Tennessee Court of Appeals on Thursday heard oral arguments for the lawsuit brought by Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, which seeks to compel Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the complete writings of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. 

Leahy and SNDM initially sued in May 2023, after Metro Nashville refused to comply with a Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) request seeking the voluminous writings left by the killer, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation. Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles later allowed a group of Covenant parents to intervene in the lawsuit, as they claimed to own the copyright to the killer’s written works, and claimed that the government could not release them without the permission of the copyright owners.

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Tennessee Appeals Court to Hold Hearing on Tennessee Star Lawsuit Seeking Full Release of Covenant Killer Manifesto

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

A panel of three judges on the Tennessee Court of Appeals Middle Section on Thursday will hear oral arguments for the lawsuit brought by Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy. 

Leahy and SNDM first sued in May 2023 to compel Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Christian elementary school she once attended, after authorities initially claimed they would not release the manifesto until their investigation was complete.

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New FBI Release Shows Transgender Shooters of Annunciation Catholic and Covenant Schools Both Drew Demonic Imagery in Journals

Tom Pappert
Hale Devil Drawing

The FBI this week released to The Tennessee Star the latest portion of writings by Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023, which were left in a journal the killer kept from 2019-2020.

One entry includes an illustration of the killer standing next to a figure she called the “Devil,” making her the second transgender mass shooter to leave such a drawing behind, after Annunciation Catholic School killer Robin Westman left a similar image in a notebook posted in a video to social media prior to his August 27 attack in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

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Transgender Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Included President Donald Trump in ‘Fantasy Murder List’

Tom Pappert
Trump in office

The FBI on Monday released to The Tennessee Star more pages from the journals written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. The newly released pages feature an entry where Hale included President Donald Trump on a “fantasy murder list.” 

Containing just four names, including two that were redacted by the FBI prior to their release of the journal, Hale included Trump as the first name in her second column of those who she would like to kill, potentially suggesting she added the name after writing a subsequent journal entry.

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Trans Covenant School Killer Complained About Money One Year Before Using Pell Grant Funds to Buy Guns

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

In a journal entry released to The Tennessee Star last week by the FBI, transgender Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote that she struggled to save money, often with less than $200 in her bank account. The killer wrote the entry more than a year before she would use funds from a federal Pell Grant to purchase weapons before killing six on March 27, 2023. 

The 2019 journal entry adds context to Hale’s decision to use the grant money, as the killer seemed to connect her lack of funds with suicidal and homicidal plans. 

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Trans Covenant School Killer Wrote That Her Gender Identity Drove Her to ‘Cut Rope’ from Christianity

Tom Pappert
person praying

A newly released journal entry written by Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, made public last week by the FBI to The Tennessee Star, reveals that the killer viewed her sexuality, and specifically her status as a self-identified transgender person, as an opposing force to her Christian faith. 

Written more than three years prior to her March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School, where she killed six, Hale dated the entry May 6, 2019, and while she began by discussing religion, she concluded by writing about school shooters. 

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Trans Covenant Killer Wrote About Father’s Interest in ‘Dumb Politics’ and Donald Trump in Newly Released Journal Entries

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, complained in two newly released journal entries about her father’s interest in “dumb politics” and President Donald Trump.

Though Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) determined the killer was sane and motivated by a desire for fame in its April report on the Covenant investigation, the journals seem to suggest that Hale’s mental state deteriorated over years, including the weeks prior to her 2019 evaluation for commitment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where MNPD documents obtained by The Tennessee Star last year revealed that Hale told a staff member she fantasized about killing her father. 

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Nashville Police Say ‘Nothing Additional to Add’ After New Journals Show Trans Covenant Killer Claimed to Hear Voice of ‘Imaginary Boy’

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said it has “nothing additional to add” regarding its conclusions regarding the March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School, where Audrey Elizabeth Hale, then identifying as a transgender man, killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Christian elementary school she once attended.

The department’s Friday statement to The Tennessee Star came despite the release of new journal entries, written by the killer as late as June 2019, in which she claimed to hear the voice of an “imaginary boy,” which demanded to “express himself,” including through a romantic interest in women, for more than a decade.  

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Trans Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Feared Commitment at Mental Hospital Following Evaluation at VUMC, Newly Released Journal Shows

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale VUMC

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian school she once attended on March 27, 2023, wrote a journal entry to mark her evaluation for potential commitment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in 2019, as revealed new entries released by the FBI to The Tennessee Star last week. 

Though The Star last year broke that Hale was evaluated for possible commitment at VUMC, during which time police notes indicate she told a medical professional that she fantasized about killing her father, this entry is the first which reveals how the killer experienced the evaluation in her own words. 

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Transgender Covenant School Shooter Began Considering Attack as Early as 2019, Newly Released ‘Manifesto’ Pages Show

Tom Pappert
Covenant School Shooter Hale

Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023 at the Christian school she once attended, began considering attacking a school as early as 2019, journal entries released to The Tennessee Star by the FBI on Wednesday reveal. 

In a journal entry written months after Hale determined she was attracted to other women, and just days after she wrote a written confession of her attraction to a former classmate, the killer seemed to express frustration upon realizing her feelings toward a specific individual were unrequited. 

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Trans Covenant School Shooter Credited Media’s Support for ‘LGBT Movement’ for Help Understanding Voice Inside Her Head

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

Nearly 500 pages of journal entries written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale were released to The Tennessee Star by the FBI on Tuesday, and with many of the entries dated as far back as 2018, these journals offer insight into the killer’s state of mind in the years before she killed six at the Christian school she once attended in Nashville. 

Within these journals, Hale seemed to claim that she first experienced same-sex attraction as the result of an “imaginary boy,” which she experienced as a voice inside her head, which expressed a desire to “express himself,” including through romantic relationships with girls, from the time when she was a fourth grade student at the Covenant School. 

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Newly Released ‘Manifesto’ Pages from Trans Covenant School Killer Show Audrey Hale Claimed Father ‘Possessed’ by ‘Demon’

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI on Wednesday released new files from the journals written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six on March 27, 2023, including an entry in which the killer appears to accuse her father of demonic possession.

Audrey Hale, whose parents told police was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses over her 22-year history as a mental health patient, appears to have written the entry sometime in 2018, based on the dates assigned to preceding entries.

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Trans Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Claimed to Hear Internal Voice of Boy Demanding to ‘Express Himself’ in Newly Released Journal

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI on Tuesday released to Judicial Watch a new series of writings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender shooter who claimed the lives of six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023, including an entry, apparently dated to 2018, in which Hale claimed to have heard a male voice inside her head. 

In an entry titled, “Is What I Feel A Mistake,” the killer wrote about the anguish she experienced related to “the truth about myself as to who I really am,” before claiming to have heard a male voice in her head for years. 

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Tennessee Star Settles Lawsuit with FBI Following Release of Covenant School Killer Manifesto Pages

Tom Pappert

The Tennessee Star on Wednesday settled its lawsuit against the FBI over the manifesto written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six during her attack at the Christian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty announced that its clients, Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, and his company, Star News Digital Media, Inc., agreed to settle the lawsuit after more than two years of litigation to secure the release of Hale’s writings.

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Newly Released Emails Reveal FBI Spent Weeks Ahead of Covenant School Shooting Discussing Catholic Extremism

Tom Pappert
Rosary

Internal government emails released by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) show individuals at multiple FBI field offices were assisting with the drafting a report identifying opportunities to mitigate the violent threats posted by “radical-traditionalist Catholics” during the weeks preceding the March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School in Nashville by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she claimed the lives of six. 

Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday published internal FBI emails that show the agency in February 2023 was drafting a Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report (SPEAR), which was titled, “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

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Congressman John Rose Says ‘No Good Justification’ for FBI to Block Release of Covenant Killer Manifesto After Reviewing 2,000 Pages

Tom Pappert
Rep John Rose

U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) on Thursday said there is “no good justification” for the FBI to block the release of the writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she attacked the Covenant School and killed six on March 27, 2023. 

In a statement provided to The Tennessee Star, Rose announced that he was given access to “more than 2,000 pages” of documents from the FBI roughly two years after he contacted former FBI Director Christopher Wray to call for the documents to be released.

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FBI Hands Judicial Watch Small Portion of Covenant School Manifesto Pages as Tennessee Star Lawsuit Continues

Tom Pappert

The FBI on Friday gave Judicial Watch a small portion of the 1,299 pages left by transgender Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale, who killed six on March 27, 2023, with heavy redactions on portions of the killer’s full 2023 journal that was already published in full by The Tennessee Star last year. 

The Star last September published about 90 pages that were written by Hale in her 2023 journal, which was recovered by law enforcement in her vehicle after the attack, alongside a spiral notebook that reportedly contained an operational plan for the atatck. In 2023, conservative comedian and pundit Steven Crowder published two pages from the spiral notebook.

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House Intelligence Committee Silent After FBI Reportedly Gives Trans Covenant Killer Manifesto to Congress

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) did not respond to multiple press inquiries from The Tennessee Star after the committee reportedly received the 1,299 pages of journals written by transgender Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale from the FBI under Director Kash Patel. Shortly after the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) concluded its investigation into the attack at the Covenant School, where Hale killed six on March 27, 2023, independent journalist Megyn Kelly reported on April 7 that the FBI allowed her to analyze and report the contents of Hale’s writings, while restricting her from publishing the pages. The Star published Hale’s full 2023 journal last September, releasing about 90 pages of her writings from the months before her attack on her former Christian school. Kelly also stated that the FBI, in an effort to engage in transparency, provided the documents to HPSCI so that Congress might review their contents. The Star contacted HPSCI and its chairman, Representative Rick Crawford (R-AR-01), but did not receive a response from the chairman or his committee to its April 8 inquiry. Inquiries to the committee’s vice chairman, Representative Trent Kelly (R-MS-01), and to committee member Representative J. French Hill (R-AR-02), made by…

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Parents of Trans Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Linked Anti-White Bias to Nashville Public School Years: Police Transcript

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Reports surfaced on Monday claiming that Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man during the March 27, 2023, attack where she killed six, harbored hatred toward white people, following news that the FBI conditionally released her writings to an independent journalist, barring publication of the actual pages.

This release came months after The Tennessee Star obtained Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case files, which revealed that Hale’s parents attributed her feelings on race to her years in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

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Department of Justice, Nashville Police Left in Dark on Covenant Killer Manifesto Release to Third Party amid Lawsuit, FBI Silence

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Department of Justice and Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) both indicated to The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that they were unaware of the FBI’s apparent decision to conditionally release the 1,299 pages of writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, to independent journalist Megyn Kelly last week.

Kelly on Monday stated that the FBI provided the killer’s writings to her with permission to analyze and report their contents over the weekend, but that her team was restricted from publishing the materials in their entirety. Excerpts shared by Kelly appear to match the killer’s 2023 manifesto, which The Star legally obtained last June and published in September 2024. 

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Tennessee Star Seeks FBI Explanation for ‘Significant Abuse of Process’ After Covenant Manifesto Released to Third Party amid Lawsuit

Tom Pappert
Kash Patel

The law firm representing The Tennessee Star in its federal lawsuit demanding the FBI release the complete materials left by transgender Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on Monday contacted the FBI to request an immediate explanation for the agency’s reported decision to release the killer’s writings to independent journalist Megyn Kelly.

Kelly has reported that the FBI gave Hale’s written materials to her organization over the weekend, and in a Monday podcast shared details purportedly from the manifesto left by the killer, who killed six at a Christian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023, that match Hale’s 2023 manifesto. 

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FBI Provides Covenant Killer Manifesto to Megyn Kelly amid Silence on Tennessee Star Lawsuit Demanding Full Release

Tom Pappert

The FBI reportedly provided last week the 1,299 pages written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Nashville school she once attended, to independent media personality Megyn Kelly.

Kelly’s release of the materials, which began on Monday, appears to contain some of the same writings The Tennessee Star legally obtained last June and subsequently published in their entirety in September 2024, suggesting the materials obtained by Kelly are authentic.

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Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Feared Mental Health Commitment Would Stop Murder Plot, Final Police Report Claims

Tom Pappert
therapy

The final report on the Covenant School killings committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed three children and three staff members at the Christian school she once attended on March 27, 2023, feared that her mother and mental health professionals would have her involuntarily committed due to concerns over her mental health, derailing her plans to commit the attack.

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) released its report on the Covenant investigation on Wednesday, revealing that Hale grew increasingly concerned that her mother and therapist would have her involuntarily committed in the months prior her attack. Hale apparently became concerned about the prospect of commitment after she was evaluated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), despite the killer ultimately avoiding inpatient commitment on three separate occasions.

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Metro Nashville Police Say Mysterious Seventh Gun Owned by Audrey Hill Actually Belonged to Covenant Killer’s Father

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

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.

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FBI Documents Suggest BAU-1 Group Behind ‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo Enlisted in Covenant Killer Investigation Days After Shooting

Tom Pappert
FBI Behavioral Analysis

Internal FBI documents obtained by independent journalist Breanna Morello via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, suggest the agency’s Behavioral Analysis Unit-1 (BAU-1) was enlisted by the FBI’s Memphis Field Office to assist with its investigation into Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on March 30, 2023, just three days after Hale, who identified as a transgender man at the time of her death, claimed the lives of six at the Nashville school she once attended on March 27. 

The documents, which are heavily redacted and pertain to evidence gathered by the FBI’s field office in Memphis and BAU-1 pursuant to the Covenant investigation, were provided to The Tennessee Star on Friday. 

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Detectives ‘Abandoned’ Effort to Get Mental Health Records of Trans Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Months After Attack

Tom Pappert
File room

Homicide detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) “abandoned” efforts to obtain the complete mental health records for Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after internal case files were obtained by The Tennessee Star and “Louder with Crowder” months after the attack. 

MNPD closed its investigation and released its final case file on Wednesday, more than two years after the attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School, which revealed that law enforcement “abandoned” efforts to obtain medical records from Hale’s final therapist, as well as those from an eating disorder clinic where the killer attended an intensive outpatient program in 2017, over unspecified leaks to the media.

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Covenant School Killer Shared ‘Homicidal Fantasies’ During 2019 Psychological Assessment, Police Report Reveals

Tom Pappert
therapy

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023, shared that experienced both “suicidal ideation and homicidal fantasies,” which involved thoughts of killing her own father, when speaking with a therapist in 2019. According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) report released on Wednesday, following the department’s conclusion of its Covenant investigation, Hale expressed suicidal and homicidal thoughts in journal entries beginning in 2018, and ultimately divulged this information to a therapist in 2019. “During therapy sessions in the spring and summer of 2019, Hale’s therapist noticed this anger with greater frequency,” MNPD homicide detectives wrote in the report. “Eventually, Hale let slip she had suicidal ideations and homicidal fantasies, though she was quick to explain she didn’t have a plan for either.” This apparently prompted the therapist to urge Hale to undergo a psychological assessment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in June 2019, where The Tennessee Star previously learned that Hale was twice evaluated for commitment. During this assessment, MNPD noted VUMC mental health professionals “made no mention of psychosis and noted Hale denied having any plans to harm herself or others, nor…

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Police Report: Transgender Covenant School Killer Left 1,299 Pages of Writings in Notebooks Originally Called ‘Manifesto’

Tom Pappert

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) report published following the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School killings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man prior to the March 27, 2023 attack, revealed the killer left behind 1,299 pages of written materials spread across more than a dozen notebooks, in addition to videos and drawings.

When The Tennessee Star obtained the killer’s 2023 journal from a source familiar with the investigation last June and published it in its entirety four months later, it learned that Hale produced as many as 1,000 pages in other journals over the course of years.

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Metro Nashville Police Concludes Investigation on Covenant School Killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, Releases 48-Page Report

Tom Pappert

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Wednesday concluded its investigation into the Covenant School attack committed on March 27, 2023 by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man prior to killing six at the Christian school she once attended, sharing key findings about the investigation in a 48-page report.

Despite needing more than two years to complete its investigation, MNPD confirmed that “Hale acted alone during the attack itself,” and no one around the killer had knowledge she was planning the attack. 

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FBI Deputy Director Bongino Says Agency Tackling ‘Transparency Issues’ amid Questions over Covenant Manifesto, Epstein Files

Tom Pappert
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Sunday said that he and Director Kash Patel are moving to address the “transparency issues” that have plagued the federal agency in recent years, urging the public to give them time to produce tangible results.

Bongino, who was selected to serve as the FBI’s second in command by President Donald Trump in February, delivered the update in a post to the social media platform X, where he said he will “be posting regular information updates” about the agency’s transparency efforts.

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‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo Suppressing Covenant Killer Manifesto Not DOJ Policy, but Guidance from Obscure Behavioral Analysis Unit

Tom Pappert
Nashville Police Chief John Drake

A review by The Tennessee Star of the original FBI materials containing the term “legacy tokens,” which the agency defined in 2018 as any item left by a mass killer to explain their actions, suggests the suppression of such materials is not a policy of the federal government, but instead is the informal guidance of one Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), one of a collection of groups nestled within the agency’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), which itself is part of the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG). 

So-called “legacy tokens” were the subject of the May 11, 2023 memo sent by the FBI’s CIRG to Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake, “strongly” advising against the release of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian school she once attended on March 27, 2023. 

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Tennessee Star Presses FBI for Answers on Agency’s ‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo Suppressing Trans Covenant Killer’s Manifesto

Tom Pappert
FBI Files with "Legacy Token" memo

The Tennessee Star on Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting the FBI provide all of its internal records regarding “legacy tokens,” including those related to the May 2023 memo that “strongly” advised the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) not to release documents like the manifesto left 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.

Obtained by The Star last June, the May 11, 2023 memo was addressed to MNPD Chief John Drake and sent from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, part of the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group, from an address in Quantico, Virginia.

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Tennessee Star Urges New FBI Director Kash Patel to Order Release of Entire Covenant Killer Manifesto

Tom Pappert
FBI Diri. Kash Patel, Covenant Killer 'Manifesto'

The Tennessee Star on Friday sent a letter urging newly-confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel drop the agency’s opposition to the release of the full manifesto left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

Both Star News Digital Media Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that seeks to compel the FBI to release Hale’s full writings. Hale reportedly left about 1,000 pages in journals that police recovered from the residence where the 28-year-old lived with her parents.

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Lead Detective on Covenant Killer Case Among 76 Officers Who Left MNPD in 2024 as Police Remain 100 Short of Staffing Goal

Tom Pappert
Metro Nashville Police Department

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) is reportedly more than 100 officers short of its staffing goal, and while the department has increased its numbers in recent years, its efforts were hampered by 76 individuals who either resigned or retired from the police force over the course of 2024.

According to a Thursday report by Nashville Banner, the city’s budget for MNPD authorizes 1,658 officers, but the department is still 104 members short of its maximum police force. It additionally reported that while the department has 52 prospective officers completing the MNPD training academy.

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Lead Nashville Police Investigator of Covenant Killings Resigned One Year Ago, Moved Out of State

Tom Pappert
Covenant School Shooting police body camera footage

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) recently confirmed to The Tennessee Star that former Detective Bobby Samuels, who was the lead detective investigating the Covenant School shooting committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale on March 27, 2023, is no longer a member of the police department.

According to MNPD Spokesman Don Aaron in a Saturday email, Samuels announced his resignation from MNPD about one year ago, at the end of 2023, when the detective apparently said he intended to also leave Tennessee in order to be near family.

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Nashville Police Say ‘We Know Nothing of’ Bombshell Claim Some Evidence from Covenant Killer Residence Was Excluded from Official Documentation, Secretly Turned Over to FBI

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

A source familiar with the investigation into the March 27, 2023 attack by Audrey Elizabeth Hale on the Covenant School told The Tennessee Star on Thursday that a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) captain, who led the department’s search of the killer’s residence, ordered police officers not to complete form 110 documents for items obtained during the search conducted on the day of the attack.

This source additionally told The Star that these items were carted away by the FBI, and that no chain of custody exists for the digital evidence obtained during the search of Hale’s home. Further, the source told The Star that firearms were plainly visible in the killer’s bedroom when police conducted their search, but that this evidence has been suppressed from the public.

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FBI Now Considering Tennessee Star Offer to Release Transgender Covenant Killer’s Manifesto in Exchange for Dropping Lawsuit

Tom Pappert
Covenant School shooting scene

Attorneys representing Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM) and Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, on Thursday received confirmation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the FBI is considering an offer that would see federal agency release the full manifesto written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man before she killed six at the Christian elementary school she once attended in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

A DOJ official confirmed to an attorney representing SNDM the FBI is considering dropping its opposition to the release of Hale’s writings, which reportedly include about 1,000 handwritten pages that the 28-year-old began writing in middle school.

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President Biden, A.G. Garland Honor Police Who Responded to Covenant School Shooting Nearly Two Years After Attack

Tom Pappert
MNPD White House

President Joe Biden last week honored Metro Nashville Police (MNPD) Chief John Drake and the Nashville police officers who responded to the Covenant School shooting by awarding them the Medal of Valor, while the department reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland met with the Nashville police in the White House.

In posts to the social media platform X, the MNPD wrote, “Our Covenant School heroes, accompanied by Chief Drake, are at the White House & have just received our nation’s Medal of Valor from President Biden in the Oval Office. Attorney General Merrick Garland met with the team in the Roosevelt Room.”

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FBI Agent Who Initially Denied Terrorism Behind New Orleans Attack Appears Connected to Authors of ‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo

Tom Pappert
FBI Assistant Special Agent Alethea Duncan

Althea Duncan, the FBI Special Agent leading the agency’s investigation into the January 1 terrorist attack in New Orleans, wore a jacket emblazoned with the logo of the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group – Behavioral Analysis Unit (CRIG-BAU) during the same press conference when she denied the attack, which killed 14, was tied to terrorism.

“This is not a terrorist event, what is right now, is they’re improvised explosive devices that was found, and we are working on confirming if it is a viable device or not,” Duncan controversially said in a clip of the Wednesday press conference that accrued more than 10 million views on the social media platform X.

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Top 2024 Covenant School Shooting Revelations Include Killer’s Therapy, Use of Pell Grants to Buy Guns, and Release of 2023 Manifesto

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

In 2024, The Tennessee Star reported multiple revelations about Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after obtaining the killer’s journal and a selection of documents related to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case from a source familiar with the investigation in June 2024.

The Star first shared on June 4 that a retired MNPD lieutenant said police knew Hale was a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center immediately after searching her family’s home in March 2023, and on June 19, confirmed it obtained an internal police document labeled “Vandy Psych” that appeared to include investigative notes about the killer’s time as a mental health patient.

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