New FBI records released this week on the Covenant School shooting in Nashville nearly two years ago reveal writings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale detailing her motives, planning, and finances.
The FBI released more than 100 pages of Hale's writings following litigation.
The documents include journal entries believed to date back to late 2021, along with handwritten notes referencing preparations for an attack and plans to obtain weapons.
Hale, 28, who identified as transgender, carried out the March 27, 2023, attack at the Christian elementary school she once attended, killing six people before being fatally shot by responding Metro Nashville Police Department officers.
The victims were identified as school staff members Katherine Koonce, 60; Cynthia Peak, 61; and Mike Hill, 61; along with students Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and William Kinney, all 9.
One journal entry, believed to have been written in late 2021, includes lengthy passages about weapons Hale said she intended to use in a school shooting.
After several pages listing items Hale wrote were available for purchase, the journal includes a section titled "Account Savings Record," which appears to reference the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
In the entry, Hale wrote that "FAFSA [sic] grant checks started at $2,050.86," followed by ledger-style notes documenting payments from Nossi College of Art and Design in Nashville, where Hale was enrolled at the time.
The financial entries appear alongside extensive notes about firearms Hale wrote she planned to purchase and use in the attack.
Hale's parents told MNPD that Hale was only capable of taking two classes per semester, which they said required Hale to remain enrolled until after turning 25, when a parent's income was no longer considered in determining aid eligibility.
"Because she was 25, and because she was still a matriculated student, she had to fill out financial aid forms, and when she became 25, she couldn't use our income," Hale's mother told the Tennessee Star.
"So then she had no income and so she got this grant money," she said, adding, "it was the grant money."
Metro Nashville Police have previously acknowledged that investigators recovered a manifesto and hand-drawn maps from Hale's vehicle following the shooting.
While select portions of Hale's writings have since been made public, city police and the FBI have continued to resist public records requests seeking the full manifesto.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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