Nashville police have shared photos of the three weapons used by the trans school shooter who killed six, including three nine-year-old children and three staff members on Monday.
Audrey Hale, 28, is a transgender woman and alumnus of the school who wrote out her plans in a detailed manifesto.
Police shared a picture of three weapons Hale had been carrying when she shot her way into the Covenant Church/School building.
The weapons are believed to be two assault-type rifles and a 9 millimeter pistol. Officials said on Monday that two of the three weapons used in the shooting were bought legally.
She was also carrying a significant amount of ammunition.
One of the rifles was daubed with the word ‘HELL’ while the pistol had the shooter’s new name, Aiden inscribed upon it.
When Hale pulled up to the school in her Honda Fit, the glass doors were locked. Hale shot her way inside firing at the doors to get onto the premises.
Nashville police have released photos of the three weapons used in the shooting, which included two assault-type rifles
The second of two rifles used in the shooting has been pictured by Nashville Police
A 9 millimeter pistol was also being carried by the shooter during the Monday murders
Hale also allegedly had planned out an attack on another school but decided not to attack there after believing there was too much security, according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake in a Monday afternoon press conference.
At around 10.13am, she opened fire at The Covenant School, shooting and killing nine-year-old Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
Substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, head of school Katherine Koonce, 60, and custodian Mike Hill, 61, were also killed.
Koonce worked alongside her daughter at The Covenant School. Anna Koonce serves as a faculty/student assistant.
Cops said Hale was transgender, although they haven’t specified further details. She was born female, but a LinkedIn profile believed to be hers uses he/him pronouns, suggesting Hale was living as a man.
It’s unclear what Hale’s motive was, but police believe she attended the school at some point.
The shooter has left behind a manifesto, the chief said, that Drake thinks will give them a motive into the massacre, the 129th in the United States in 2023.
She had detailed, drawn maps of the school and had been surveilling it, according to police.
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Nashville police have shared a photo of the car used by Audrey Hale, the private school shooter who killed six, including three nine-year-old children and three staff members
They also posted photos of the doors of the school, which Hale had shot out in order to gain entrance
Audrey Hale (pictured), the private school shooter in Nashville who killed six, including three nine-year-old children and three staff members, is a transgender woman and alumnus of the school who wrote out their plans in a detailed manifesto
The front entrance of The Covenant School shows the glass doors clearly decimated by bullets
‘We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this day,’ Drake said. ‘We have a map drawn out of how this was all gonna to take place. There’s right now a theory that we may put out later but it’s not confirmed. We’ll put that out as soon as we can.’
When asked if how Hale identified might impact the motive, Drake paused before saying: ‘We can give you that at a later time. There is some theory to that, we’re investigating all the leads.’
According to the chief, Hale and no criminal history and said he did not know of any history of mental illness, though investigators were still looking into that.
Drake also said that Hale had plans to attack another school in the Nashville area.
‘There was another location that was mentioned but because of a threat assessment by the suspect, too much security, they decided not to,’ he said.
Terrified children peer out the windows of their school bus as they wait to be driven away from the school after the shooting
Children hold hands as they leave The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday after a female shooter opened fire, killing three kids and three staff members
The Nashville shooting is the 129th mass shooting this year.
The country surpassed the milestone of 100 mass shootings on March 5 – with the rate rising faster than in the past ten years.
Last year, the U.S. hit 100 mass shootings on March 19, almost two weeks after this year’s date.
The previous year, 2021, was March 20, while in 2020 it was May 3 and 2018 and 2019 also saw late May dates for the grim mark.
So far this year, there have been 13 school shootings, with six children killed in total and four adults or employees losing their lives.
Nashville is the deadliest school shooting of 2023 and is one of just five in history which had a female gunman.
