School shooter Audrey Hale penned a manifesto before carrying out a "targeted" attack on a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, according to police.
Three children and three adults were killed in the mass shooting at Nashville's Covenant School on Monday morning. Police responding to the scene also killed the shooter, later identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said during a press briefing that investigators had determined that Hale was "a former student at the school." A post-shooting search of Hale's residence uncovered maps of the school and a manifesto that revealed the shooting had been meticulously planned.
"We have a manifesto," Drake told reporters. "We have some writings that we're going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident. We have a map drawn out of how all this was gonna take place."
"There's right now a theory that we may be able to talk about later, but it's not confirmed," he added. "So, we'll put that out as soon as we can."
Drake said that Hale had come with "multiple rounds of ammunition" and "prepared to do more damage than was actually done," having been stopped from carrying out further bloodshed after being fatally shot by responding officers.
"There were maps drawn of the school, in detail—of surveillance, entry points, etcetera," said Drake. "We know and believe that entry was gained through shooting through one of the doors, [that] is how they actually got into the school."
The motive for the shooting is unclear, although Drake confirmed that the incident was a "targeted attack." Hale had no previous criminal record, Drake said, while their mental health status was unknown.
Drake hinted that one theory on the motive may involve Hale's transgender identity. While police identified Hale as a woman, some of the shooter's social media profiles suggest that Hale may have used he/him pronouns.
Police received calls about an "active shooter" at the school at about 10:13 a.m. local time. They responded to the incident quickly, with Hale being confronted and killed by 10:27 a.m. Two "assault-style" rifles and one handgun were found in Hale's possession.
The children killed in the shooting were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney—all 9 years old. The adult victims were identified as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61. Koonce is listed as the head of the school on the Covenant website.
As of Monday, the Covenant School shooting was the 129th mass shooting in the U.S. this year, with 37 having been committed this month, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA). While there is no agreed definition, the GVA says a mass shooting is four or more people shot or killed in an incident, excluding the shooter. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for U.S. children.
Newsweek has reached out via email to the office of Drake for comment.
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