Davidson County’s sheriff said he wants the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to release the manifesto The Covenant School shooter left behind.
“I think the manifesto needs to be released ASAP,” Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall reportedly said. “I think it would help. I don’t see any reason for it to be private any longer in my opinion.”
“Because we all want to know why,” Hall (pictured above) said. “That’s my whole life trying to figure out why people do what they do.”
On March 27, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, who identified as transgender, entered The Covenant School in Nashville and shot and killed six people, including three children.
Shortly thereafter, MNPD confirmed that Hale left behind a manifesto and said its contents were being analyzed by the department, along with the FBI.
Since then, both organizations have been radio silent about the manifesto’s contents.
On April 11, MNPD spokesman Don Aaron told The Tennessee Star that there was no timeline for the release.
The same day, the FBI deferred to MNPD for questions regarding the manifesto.
As reported Wednesday by The Star, MNPD denied a public records request from Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO of Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star and The Star News Network, asking MNPD to release the contents of the manifesto.
“I call upon Governor Bill Lee and Mayor John Cooper to request that the Metro Nashville Police Department immediately release the manifesto and all related written documents obtained in the search of the residence and vehicle of the murderer Audrey Hale because it is in the public interest to do so,” Leahy said.
Leahy sent MNPD the open records request Monday afternoon, seeking to:
[I]nspect and copy or duplicate all written records and documents, including written manifestos. journals, written notes, memoirs, and school yearbooks obtained by the Metro Nashville Police Department from search warrants executed on Monday March 27, 2023 and throughout the week of March 27, 2023 at the residence of Audrey Hale in Nashville and the car driven by Audrey Hale and left at the Covenant Presbyterian School parking lot on March 27, 2023 related to the investigation of the murder of six people at Covenant Presbyterian School by Audrey Hale on Monday March 27, 2023.
Aaron did not return a Tuesday comment request from The Star.
U.S. Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) also weighed in on the issue.
“Audrey Hale murdered 6 Christians, and many Tennesseans are demanding that their state legislature ‘do something,'” he said. “We cannot possibly address this horrific situation until we know what was in her manifesto. I am calling on the Metropolitan Nashville Police Deparment [sic] & the FBI to immediately release this document so we can examine it, then take the appropriate steps.”
Audrey Hale murdered 6 Christians, and many Tennesseans are demanding that their state legislature “do something."
We cannot possibly address this horrific situation until we know what was in her manifesto.
I am calling on the Metropolitan Nashville Police Deparment & the FBI…
— Rep. Jeremy Faison (@JeremyFaison4TN) April 24, 2023
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “Daron Hall” by Daron Hall Nashville Sheriff. Background Photo “Covenant School Shooting” by Metro Nashville PD.
