Travis Lamb was a couple of 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.
As it turned out, the shooter was inside his children’s school.
Audrey Elizabeth Hale, by this time, had begun her deadly errand, shooting her way into the Christian elementary school and killing three 9-year-olds and three adult staff members. Less than a quarter hour into the rampage, Hale was dead, too — fatally shot by police officers.
Lamb’s oldest child, a second-grader, was out of town at the time, in Chicago, visiting friends with his mother. Lamb’s younger children, a kindergartener and another in Pre-K, were at the school. His son was on the playground with his classmates.
“I said, ‘I got to go. I don’t know what’s going on but I’ll figure it out on the way,’” Lamb, 40, of Brentwood, told The Tennessee Star this week in an exclusive interview. “At this point, the texts and calls are flying. There’s confusion about where the parents are supposed to go, could go, where was it? People are calling and texting me, asking me, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m trying to get my kids. I don’t know.”
After arriving on the scene, Lamb and fellow Covenant parents were informed that their children were safe, but the school remained locked down. They would have to wait until mid-afternoon to be reunited.
The parents of third-graders Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney did not have that opportunity.
Lamb’s kindergartener was among a group of children escorted by staff off the property after the shooting started.
“They hiked down the hill through the woods. There’s nothing but woods there, right up to Hillsboro,” he said. “They crossed the road and there was an apartment building where one of the kids knew a lady.”
The woman took in the children, who were fed donuts, watched “Sonic the Hedgehog” and petted dogs while they waited.
Yes, Lamb has thought about the counterfactuals — what if Hale, who attended the private elementary school years ago, had started her rampage on the playground?
“It would have been like fish in a barrel,” he said, pausing. “I’ve thought about that one I don’t know how any times.”
It seems the 28-year-old mass murderer had a plan in mind, and she stuck to that plan, Lamb said.
He’s definitely in the minority of Covenant School parents, but the father of three wants to see Hale’s manifesto and related writings made public. He said the public — parents — need to know what drove such an evil act against innocent children and their teachers.
“I don’t shy away from information,” Lamb said. “We’ve got a person here who has a church upbringing and at the same time went to the same Christian school. I can’t presume I’m not raising another one. If I can gain insight into her thoughts, speech patterns, anything like that … that’s invaluable to me as a parent.”
According to court filings, the “vast majority” of Covenant student parents don’t agree with Lamb’s position. They’ve been allowed to intervene in a lawsuit, filed by the parent company of The Star and others seeking the release of Hale’s manifesto. The parents, the school, and the Covenant Presbyterian Church have allied themselves with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and Nashville government in fighting the release of the records.
Some despise the plaintiffs for demanding Hale’s writings be made public.
Erin Kinney, mother of William Kinney, in a court declaration asserts the plaintiffs don’t care about the “wellbeing of their fellow humans” and “seek to rob the six murder victims of dignity in their deaths by demanding the release of sensitive details …”
“These petitioners have shown no respect or regard for my family or for the hundreds of surviving Covenant trauma victims, even going so far as to shamefully deny their victimhood before you, as they seek to publish and profit from the deranged, hateful, and exceedingly dangerous ramblings of an individual who renounced her humanity and gunned down children,” the mother wrote.
The Star, The Tennessean and the other plaintiffs say there is no profit motive, just the duty to inform the public. They argue that law enforcement has routinely and, in many cases, released manifestos and relevant writings from other mass murderers. In this case, the Metro Nashville Police Department claims there is an ongoing criminal procedure preventing the documents’ release. Plaintiffs argue that there is no such ongoing procedure. The shooter is dead, and police have said she acted alone.
It’s all being sorted out in court nearly three months after the horrific event.
In court documents and in press conferences, parents have said they fear Hale’s writings would lead to “copycat” incidents. They also don’t want to have to re-live the trauma through broadcast and print accounts of Hale’s manifesto.
Lamb said he has voiced his views with fellow Covenant School family members. He remains on the “opposite side.” While he disagrees with their position, he said he supports them. He just wants answers.
“There’s so much talk about mental health, especially the mental health of kids. Here’s a specific situation where we could maybe gather valuable information,” he said.
Lamb said he’s been open with his kids about that nightmarish morning in March. He said it’s important they know the truth.
“I tell my kids that information is not the enemy,” he said. “There’s darkness and there’s light shining on the darkness.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Covenant School” by Metro Nashville PD.
He is RIGHT. Nothing showcases Light, the brilliance and the power of Light like darkness.