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.
Read the full story
Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale claimed to witness an accidental injury after training at a Nashville-area gun range just two days before her terrible attack.
Hale reported witnessing the incident in a handwritten journal or diary entry that was recovered from her vehicle, photographed, and eventually provided to The Tennessee Star as part of a portion of Hale’s writings.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Star has obtained the FBI memo sent to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on May 11, 2023 from a source familiar with the Covenant killer investigation.
The letterhead and heading used for the memo indicate it originated at the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group in Quantico, Virginia. The opening paragraphs reveal it was sent by the FBI’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Center (BTAC), the home of the FBI’s Behavorial Analysis Unit (BAU-1). The memo was not signed.
Read the full story
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has officially turned over all documents related to Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, including the killer’s manifesto, for an in camera review of materials.
Read the full story
Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, discussed the latest developments surrounding a story out of Maryland where police arrested a transgender high school student for a 129-page manifesto that included plans for at least two school shootings.
On Friday, Pappert reported that the student, Andrea Ye, was arrested this week as police say she wrote the 129-page manifesto and shared it with a friend, who then notified police of the document.
Read the full story
Police in Maryland confirmed on Friday that a transgender high school student was arrested after they claim she wrote a 129-page manifesto that included plans for at least two school shootings.
The Rockville Police Department (RPD) confirmed the Thursday arrest of Andrea Ye, who identifies as a transgender man, after a friend went to police with concerns over Ye’s manifesto.
Read the full story
A hearing in the public records lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County related to release of records from The Covenant School shooting took place before Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles on Monday.
Read the full story
Sebastian Gorka called for the release of the manifesto written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a transgender man who fatally shot three 9-year-old students and three faculty members at the Covenant School in Nashville last year after the FBI recently arrested an Oregon man for threatening to kill “trans phobic a*****s.”
Gorka, who served as the deputy assistant for former President Donald Trump, shared a post about the story of the Oregon man, adding, “Where’s the Nashville Transkiller’s manifesto[?] #TransTerrorism.”
Read the full story
Ten officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) have been reassigned duties following an investigation into the November 6 leak of the manifesto written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, according to reports.
Read the full story
Attorneys for Star News Digital Media Inc., the parent company of The Tennessee Star, asked a federal judge to order the Federal Bureau of Investigation to respond to a motion for limited discovery as part of a nationally watched public records lawsuit.
Star News Digital Media Inc. filed the lawsuit in May, demanding the FBI release the manifesto and related writings of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer.
Read the full story
Earlier this month, attorneys for Star News Digital Media Inc., the parent company of The Star and The Star News Network, filed a motion after the leak of three pages of Covenant Presbyterian School mass murderer Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s writings. The motion asserts the leak proves, “assuming the three pages’ authenticity,” that the FBI “could have selectively released” redacted portions of the manifesto without jeopardizing ongoing investigations.
The FBI has yet to confirm the authenticity of the manifesto pages shared online, but the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has confirmed they are Hale’s writings. Prior to that admission, The Star was among the first outlets to independently verify the pages were part of Hale’s manifesto.
Read the full story
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell is standing by his man, Metro Law Director Wally Dietz, and his suspect claim that a court order prohibits the release of the Covenant Killer’s manifesto.
“To be clear: I’m not intent on withholding anything, but I’m not going to violate the best understanding I have of what the law is,” the mayor told The Tennessee Star in responding to questions about Dietz’s controversial assertions.
Read the full story
Metro Nashville’s top attorney released an urgent statement Thursday evening claiming the Covenant School Killer’s manifesto are under court seal and can’t be released.
Not true, say attorneys for plaintiffs in lawsuits seeking to make the records public.
Read the full story
More than seven months after Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s murderous rampage at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School, Governor Bill Lee says he remains “frustrated” by the lack of transparency from law enforcement officials.
But what has the governor actually done to help transparency along?
Read the full story
While much of the legacy media attacks the messenger, conservative commentator Steven Crowder wants to know why major news outlets haven’t been more diligent in going after Covenant School Killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s manifesto.
The host of the Louder with Crowder podcast this week published photos of three pages from Hale’s prolific writings, which the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have blocked from public release.
Read the full story
Brent Leatherwood, the Southern Baptist Convention’s president of the church’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and a Covenant School parent, denounced the individual responsible for leaking three pages of the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto, which were released by Steven Crowder on Monday morning.
Read the full story
Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) reacted to the leaked documents part of the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto released by Steven Crowder on Monday morning.
Read the full story
A three-judge appeals court panel on Monday heard oral arguments in a First Amendment lawsuit seeking the release of the manifesto and related writings of the Covenant School killer.
The judges will determine whether a lower court erred in allowing Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian Church, its elementary school and parents of students there to intervene in the lawsuit, brought by the parent company of The Tennessee Star, the Tennessee Firearms Association, The Tennessean, and others.
Read the full story
Attorney and newest all-star panelist Braden Boucek joined host Michael Patrick Leahy on Monday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report to discuss to administrative overreach and bizarre secrecy surrounding the Covenant Killer Manifesto and how lawmakers convening in the special session could obtain and review those materials today.
Read the full story
State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) joined host Michael Patrick Leahy on the newsmaker line on Wednesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report to discuss the special session Gov. Bill Lee formally called in a proclamation last night. Cepicky broke down the steps ahead and shared his thoughts about the fate of Lee’s “Red Flag” law aspirations. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: 6:18 a.m. – we are joined on a newsmaker line right now by our very good friend, State Representative Scott Cepicky. Good morning, Scott. How are you today? Scott Cepicky: Good morning, Michael. How’s everybody doing today? Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, I was doing fine until I saw the governor last night release this proclamation for a special session, which will be held Monday, a week from Monday at 4:00 p.m. in the state Capitol. What’s your reaction to this laundry list of 18 things that he wants you to pass in a special session? Scott Cepicky: Well, Michael, the first thing I wanna say is I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of Tennessee and pass no bill or vote for any bill that is injurious to the citizens of the state. So I take that very seriously and…
Read the full story
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy held a press conference at the Davidson County Courthouse on Wednesday to call for releasing the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto.
“I’m here as a father and as an American. We can’t fix the past, but we can prevent tragedies in the future, and the only way to do it is to learn from those mistakes of the past,” Ramaswamy said. “When an airplane crashes, we recover the black box for a reason – we never want to make that same mistake twice. We have a tradition in this country as law enforcement to do the same thing when there’s a mass shooting…We have to learn from tragedy to prevent it in the future.”
Read the full story
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is calling for the Covenant School shooter’s manifesto to be released to the public.
Read the full story
A Tennessee man has been charged in connection with a threat against conservative journalist and talk radio show host Michael Patrick Leahy over Leahy’s lawsuit to obtain the Nashville school shooter manifesto, allegedly telling Leahy, “I’m willing to go to prison to end you.”
Read the full story
Travis Lamb was a couple hours into his first day as Youth Activities director at Stephens Valley Church, getting the “dime tour,” when he started getting text messages about a shooter in the Covenant Presbyterian School neighborhood.
It was March 27.
Read the full story
Pastor Jim Bachmann remembers the early, intimate days of the new Covenant Presbyterian Church in the early 1990s. A few dozen souls with a love of Christ and a thirst to grow in faith gathering at a small venue.
That little congregation has grown into a thriving, evangelical church of some 1,400 parishioners in the southern hills of Nashville since Bachmann took the lead preacher post in 1991. He served as pastor until 2016.
Read the full story
While the Covenant School killer’s parents consider their daughter’s deadly manifesto “intellectual property” and suggest anyone who publishes the documents could face legal damages, records experts say the threat is more legal posturing in a nationally watched public records lawsuit.
But the latest legal twist in the court battle over Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s journals, written notes, memoirs and related writings is an attempt to take a “wrecking ball” to Tennessee’s public records law, one open government expert told The Tennessee Star.
Read the full story
Four Nashville private schools are seeking entry into a nationally watched public records lawsuit that demands the release of the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents.
Attorneys for Franklin Road Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Oak Hill School, and St. Paul Christian Academy filed a motion on Monday asking Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles for permission to file an amicus — friend of the court — brief in the lawsuit.
Read the full story
The Star News Network asked a federal court on Thursday to issue summary judgment declaring the Federal Bureau of Investigation violated the law and must immediately turn over the Covenant Killer’s manifesto and related records.
Star News and its parent company, Star News Digital Media Inc., earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI demanding it release the relevant writings of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the mass murderer who in late March shot dead three 9-year-olds and three staff members at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School.
Read the full story
Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles heard plenty of opinions Monday — many of them dripping with emotion — on a consolidated lawsuit seeking the release of the Covenant School Killer’s manifesto and related writings.
Myles is expected to issue an order on Wednesday deciding whether Covenant Presbyterian School parents, the private Christian school and the Covenant Presbyterian Church can intervene in the lawsuit.
Read the full story
The director of the Christian Defense Coalition told The Star News Network in an interview Friday it is crucial that the FBI release The Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto to the public, especially in the wake of the “scathing report” by Special Counsel John Durham that has led to a firestorm over the federal law enforcement agency’s integrity and analysis.
“There have been many stories that the local Nashville Police Department is turning much of the manifesto in detail writings of Audrey Hale over to the FBI, for analysis, to try to get a sense of a profile, any issues that might help ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again,” Rev. Patrick Mahoney said.
Read the full story
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Assistant Chief Mike Hagar claims there is an “active” investigation into the Covenant Presbyterian School shootings and that releasing the Covenant killer’s manifesto and related writings would be harmful. A lieutenant with the police department says it could take up to a year to complete said invetigation.
In a sworn declaration, Hagar said he is not opposed to the release of a redacted version of the documents.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Star’s state lawsuit demanding the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) release the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related documents is being transferred to Chancery Court.
Tennessee First Circuit Court Judge David Briley this week granted the transfer, requested by attorneys for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, defendants in the case.
Read the full story
Sixty six Republican lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives have sent a letter to Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake asking for the release of writings and medical records of the Covenant School killer.
Read the full story
Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles is reviewing the unredacted and proposed redacted journal and other writings of the Covenant School killer ahead of Thursday’s scheduled status conference meeting, sources with knowledge of the case tell The Tennessee Star.
Myles has scheduled a Show Cause hearing for June 8 on the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s refusal to turnover what has commonly been referred to as the “manifesto” of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who stormed into Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School on March 27 and fatally killed three 9-year-olds and three staff members.
Read the full story
The judge hearing lawsuits demanding the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department release the Covenant School killer’s manifesto has pushed back a show cause hearing on the litigation as MNPD attempts to maneuver around Tennessee’s public record laws.
It appears the police department and its attorneys are going to try to bury the plaintiffs — and the court — in paper.
Read the full story
The National Police Association has filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County demanding the release of the Covenant School killer’s manifesto.
And The Tennessee Star has just learned that Tennessee 20th Judicial District Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles has ordered a show cause hearing for May 11, examining whether the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has failed to comply with public records laws.
Read the full story
The Tennessee Firearms Association is asking a state court to order the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to turn over the Covenant School killer’s manifesto — documents law enforcement have kept from the public more than a month after Audrey Elizabeth Hale stormed into the private Covenant Presbyterian School and killed three 9-year-olds and three adults.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the TFA and former Hamilton County Sheriff James Hammond request the 20th Judicial District, Chancery Court, in Davidson County to grant the organization access to the manifesto. The complaint also seeks an order from the court finding the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County’s denial of TFA’s records requests is unlawful.
Read the full story
Late Thursday night Gov. Bill Lee tweeted that he expects documents and information related to the Covenant Presbyterian murders will be released soon.
Read the full story
In a press conference the day after The Covenant School mass shooting, Nashville police said they were looking into the motive of the shooter, Audrey Hale, and had found a “manifesto” that outlined her attack with maps and action plans for the killings.
Since then, the Nashville police have walked back the characterization of Hale’s writings seized at her home as a manifesto but have given little additional information about them. They say they have shared Hale’s journals and writings with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, which is studying them.
Read the full story
The Star News Network’s attorneys have filed a new case with the U.S. Department of Justice demanding the Federal Bureau of Investigation turn over Nashville mass shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s manifesto.
The Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on Wednesday filed an administrative appeal with the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy after the FBI twice rejected The Star News Network’s Freedom of Information Act requests, seeking the expedited release of the documents.
Read the full story
A day after the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department denied The Tennessee Star’s request for mass shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s manifesto, an official says the department has entered a “stage” of considering how to release the controversial documents.
“The investigation is now at the stage that we are beginning the close review/preparation process for the public release of written material,” Metro Nashville PD spokeswoman Brooke Reese wrote in an email Wednesday to The Tennessee Star.
Read the full story
Catholic League President Bill Donohue is asking Nashville police to produce the manifesto they said they found among transgender shooter Audrey Hale’s belongings.
“The local police said she was planning the attack ‘over a period of months,’ and that she had studied other mass murderers,” wrote Donohue Monday. “They emphasized that the attack was ‘calculated and planned.’ Importantly, they found a manifesto that laid bare her thinking.”
Read the full story
Colorado authorities have arrested a 19-year-old man who identifies as a woman for allegedly planning to shoot up multiple schools in the Colorado Springs area.
The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed formal charges Thursday against William Whitworth, who calls himself “Lilly Whitworth,” who allegedly planned to shoot up multiple schools in the Academy School District 20 (ASD20), Fox21 News reported.
Read the full story