Nashville, TN (WVLT / WOKI) The Metro Nashville Police Department has released its full investigative report in the deadly shooting at The Covenant School in March 2023.
More than two years after the shooting, MNPD has finalized its investigation into the shooting that took the lives of six people: 9-year-old students Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Halley Scruggs, school custodian Mike Hill, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak and Head of School Katherine Koonce.
MNPD broke down the more than 40-page report by summarizing the incident, providing a detailed timeline of the attack and investigation, backgrounds of the shooter, Audrey Hale, and victims, what the shooter did and did not leave behind, summarizing how the attack progressed and a timeline, an analysis of the shooter’s behavior and motive, what the shooting isn’t, other parties responsible and the homicide unit’s investigative conclusion.
Below is an overview of some of the key findings in the report:
Mental Health Background
- According to the report, Hale’s isolation and loneliness led Hale to believe the only true friends Hale could confide in were stuffed animals. “She assigned them names, personalities, took them with her whenever she travelled,” the report said.
- Suicidal thoughts regularly appeared in Hale’s entries. Hale claimed to have made attempts at suicide, including cutting her wrists with a knife and trying to strangle herself.
- “Always ever present in Hale’s life was her anger,” the report states. Hale began to write “rage storms,” which consisted of long, expletive-filled entries devoted to topics that greatly angered Hale. The report said Hale, “believed she was being discriminated against and disparaged for being autistic.”
- According to the MNPD report, Hale said none of their writings were to be taken literally, including the homicidal fantasies Hale penned regarding their father, as these passages were to ‘blow off steam.’
Hale Fantasized About Targeting Other Schools, Malls and Intersections
- Hale fantasized about other targets for a shooting, including Harpeth Hall Academy, Nashville School of the Arts, Harding Academy, Hillsboro High and Creswell Middle.
- Hale also considered The Mall At Green Hills, Opry Mills Mall and intersections like Briley Pkwy/Centennial Blvd., Belmont Blvd. near the university and the interchange of North Mount Juliet Road and I-40 in Mt Juliet.
Motive
- Police said Hale’s motive for the attack was notoriety.
- “Among the material Hale left behind is her detailed plan to commit carnage in a school, with timelines, diagrams, etc. It is known that Hale, and other mass shooters, studied material from Columbine High School prior to committing their attacks. Recognizing the notoriety motive previously mentioned, it is this police department’s concerted belief that Hale’s specific action plan, if ever made public, would be used by future potential mass murderers in the United States or anywhere in the world to attack and kill innocent persons, including school children,” MNPD said.
- Hale left material behind to be found and analyzed.
- Wanted material to be publicly released and commented upon
- Wanted books, documentaries, and movies to be made about Hale’s life and the attack
- Wanted Hale’s firearms to be placed in a museum; wanted the bedroom to be left as it was when the attack occurred as a memorial to Hale
- Wanted to mentor other shooters to show how they could succeed with proper planning
- Wanted to show off Hale’s superiority to others
Gender Identity
- Audrey Hale made statements about wanting to transition gender, but nothing was found to suggest Hale initiated or was undergoing a transition at the time of their death, including medical documentation.
- During the autopsy, it was determined that Hale was biologically female.
- Hale acted completely alone in the preparation of the attack and during the attack. No one else directly participated.
- Hale never took steps to recruit anyone due to a combination of paranoia and the desire to achieve notoriety.
- Sixteen notebooks were recovered after the shooting, containing nearly 1,300 pages of content spanning from Aug. 30, 2017, to March 27, 2023 (the day of the attack).
Did Hale Act Alone?
- Police said that no one else is responsible.
- The Covenant School:
- No known prior interaction between the victims and Hale
- Hale bore no grudge against the school or staff. Considered them as “innocents” and victims on par with herself
- Location was targeted due to the notoriety she would obtain and considered it a soft target; also because she had a personal connection to the school from earlier in her life and felt she had to die somewhere that made her happy
- Firearms Retailers:
- Conducted all necessary background checks prior to selling her firearms
- Background checks only cover criminal history
- Parents:
- Assisted her with obtaining mental healthcare despite them not being legally required to do so
- Mental Health Professionals (based on available records only):
- Hale chronicled that she withheld information from providers to prevent her from being stopped
- The Covenant School:
Preparation of the Attack
- In December 2018, Hale began planning an attack on Cresswell Middle School, but had second thoughts because a large portion of the student body was Black and didn’t want to be perceived as racist.
- In summer 2019, Hale’s therapist noticed a greater frequency of anger issues and Hale underwent a psychological assessment. The results showed that Hale’s largest aggravating factors were anxiety and depression.
- Hale dreamed of attacking other schools but quickly decided those ideas were only fantasies.
- In October 2020, Hale purchased a gun using federal student loan money.
- In 2020, Hale recorded 13 videos explaining the motivation for an attack on a school.
- In January 2021, Hale pivoted her focus to The Covenant School and began studying and going to the building after school hours.
- In February 2021, Hale purchased a second gun.
- Hale planned an attack on Cresswell Middle on April 13, 2021, to coincide with the Columbine shooting date.
- Hale canceled the attack on April 8, 2021, and officially changed to target The Covenant School.
- Due to Covenant being a Christian school, Hale believed attacking it would bring more notoriety.
- Another red flag was raised by a therapist when Hale let slip that she owned a rifle.
- On April 16, 2021, Hale purchased a third gun from a firearms dealer by again using money from a federal student loan.
- On June 11, 2021, Hale purchased a fourth gun.
- In June 2021, Hale purchased a copy of the Columbine diaries, which her mom found and took to the therapist. It came to light that Hale had been experiencing homicidal fantasies against her father. Hale was convinced to turn over her guns for her parents to lock up.
- On July 7, 2021, Hale purchased another gun by using the rest of a student loan grant and charged the rest of the purchase on a credit card.
- On Sep. 14, 2021, Hale went to The Covenant School and asked for a tour. Hale said she was an alum and got a faculty-guided tour on Sep. 18, 2021.
- Hale photographed and videotaped locations in the school.
- After the tour, Hale created a detailed map of the school’s layout.
- In order to train and practice for the attack and to convince her parents she was no longer a threat, Hale postponed the attack until April 2022.
- Between January and May 2022, Hale attended firearms training classes. She also studied material from other mass shootings with a focus on school shootings.
- Hale made comments on how the attack would be a failure if she killed less than 10 people with a desired “body count of at least 40.”
- Hale began researching other potential attack locations in case she needed to find an alternate to The Covenant School.
- Hale postponed the attack again to August or September 2022 to accommodate her graduation from college.
- On June 6, 2022, Hale purchased another gun.
- After failing to land a job, Hale began final preparations for the attack.
- Upon the death of one of Hale’s childhood friends, Hale fell into a deep depression and didn’t recover until October 2022.
- Hale’s paranoia increased in the fall of 2022. Due to the paranoia, she created emergency plans involving killing her parents and quickly moving to an “emergency” target for a mass shooting.
- In December 2022, Hale purchased a tactical vest that would later be used to hold magazines and ammunition to be used during the attack.
- Hale also purchased other items for the attack, including an automatic knife with a glass-break tool.
- In early 2023, Hale set new dates for the attack (January and February were postponed, but by March, she no longer wanted to postpone).
- Hale began preparing folders with all her research and information, preparing for the attack.
- The only encounter between Hale and law enforcement before the attack was on March 3, 2023, when she was present when someone was injured during an accidental discharge at a shooting range. Hale was briefly questioned but was released.
- On the night before the attack, Hale prepared her equipment and recorded a final video in her bedroom. Hale reviewed the data of the planned attack that she planned to leave behind.
- On March 27, 2023, the morning before the attack and leaving her residence, Hale wrote a final note to her parents, bidding them goodbye and leaving instructions on how she wanted her possessions to be taken care of.
- Hale also messaged a middle school teammate saying she intended to die by suicide.
MNPD laid out a detailed timeline of the March 27, 2023, attack on the school in the report.
Motive for targeting The Covenant School
- Police believe that Hale targeted the school due to the inability or lack of such to be able to put up a fight once the attack began.
- Hale attended the school during her elementary instruction for four years.
- Police said that investigators did not find any specific reasons why Hale chose her victims at the Covenant School other than that they were small children.
The Metro Nashville Police Department released its full and final investigative report on the deadly Covenant School shooting.
MNPD’s conclusion of the investigation can be found below:
“Upon reviewing the assembled evidence, information, and materials collected during the investigation, no evidence was found to suggest anyone other than Audrey Hale took any part in the planning, preparation, or execution of the murders at The Covenant. No evidence was found to show anyone aided Hale after the fact by concealing, destroying, or otherwise manipulating evidence and information related to the crime in a manner that would hinder or negatively affect the investigation. After conferring with attorneys at the Davidson County District Attorney General’s Office, they confirmed no information or evidence currently exists to suggest anyone living is criminally culpable or responsible for the murders.”MNPD’s Investigative Conclusion
You can click here to view the entire investigative report from MNPD.
Autoplay1 of 5
In response to the release of the report, a press conference has been called for Wednesday afternoon, where Covenant School families and their attorney, Eric Osborne, will be speaking.
Two years following the shooting, The Covenant School released a message of hope on March 27, 2025:
“On this day, we pause to honor the precious lives lost on March 27, 2023—lives filled with love, joy, and purpose. We hold their families, our Covenant community, and all who carry this sorrow close in our hearts.
Yet, even in the depths of loss, we cling to the promise that our God is making all things new (Isaiah 43:19). We see His renewal in the kindness shared, the faith strengthened, and the beauty that has risen from the ashes. We hear it in the laughter of our students, see it in their wonder as they learn and grow, and feel it in the love that continues to bind us together.
We hold the tension of sorrow and joy, grieving with hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), knowing that love endures and that darkness will not have the final word.
As we remember, we remain committed to the healing of our faculty, staff, students, and families, moving forward together in faith and love. We are deeply grateful for the support and care that has sustained us over the last 24 months.”The Covenant School
Story courtesy of WVLT
