Judge in Nashville to Decide if Evidence in a Mass Shooting is Copyrighted to Avoid Public Oversight

2024/04/20

The parents of the victims of the Covenant School in Nashville, TN, have begged Davidson County Chancery Court  to withhold from the public Audrey Hale’s manifesto and all documents belonging to the shooter, which were legally gifted to the parents of the victims by the shooter’s parents. 

Gifting the documents to the parents of the victims is odd. But for the parents of the victims to then assert that they hold some kind of “copyright” on those documents is twisted on its face and one cannot help but wonder what really is behind this enormous effort to withhold information about Audrey Hale.

Let’s think about it for a minute. What we know is that Audrey Hale went to elementary school at Covenant, transferred out to Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School and Nashville School of Arts then on to Nossi College of Arts. Everything was seemingly okay.

At 28 years old, the now transitioning female, was identifying as the male, Aiden and, while living at home with mom and dad, began purchasing seven firearms, including shotguns, rifles, and handguns. It was also at this time that we find Hale being “treated” for an emotional disorder.

On the morning of March 27, 2023, Hale drove to her elementary alma mater and discharged 150 rounds, killing three children and three adults. Why? Why did Hale choose Covenant School for her murderous actions? Why not Middle or High School or how about the local fast-food joint? This was a specific hit. Planned. Hale knew where she was going and why. 

The problem is that the public doesn’t know why. The public doesn’t know why Hale decided to take the lives of six innocent people. But the public will have to live with any legislation that comes from her murderous behavior… legislation that may limit its right to own firearms or increases funding for mental health services that may actually be responsible for Hale’s actions. 

So now let’s consider what we don’t know. We don’t know the name of the doctor or psychiatrist that was “treating” Hale for the emotional disorder. We don’t know what “treatment” was provided to Hale. Did Hale have talk therapy or was Hale prescribed psychiatric mind-altering drugs? Did Hale’s doctor know whether she was a threat to herself or others? If yes, was this information passed along to law enforcement? Did the doctor know Hale was buying guns and was that information shared with law enforcement? 

Moreover, the autopsy explains that there was no positive hit for many different types of prescription drugs, and that doesn’t take into consideration that Hale could have gone off the medications prior to the shooting. Knowing whether Hale had been prescribed any psychiatric medications is imperative because the adverse events associated with going cold turkey off drugs are extremely serious and even deadly, depending on the drug. Furthermore, there still are some questions regarding the therapeutic levels of psychotropic drugs that may have been excluded from the lab report.

Crazier still, let’s also ask why in the world did Hale’s parents think it was a good idea to gift the shooter’s personal writing history to the victim’s families? That’s a first. Why? What did these parents think would come from this bizarre action? Is it possible that Hale’s parents thought this would somehow make it easier for the victims’ families? Or did Hale’s parents believe giving away their daughter’s writings would relieve them of any culpability?

One also must wonder whether the Covenant School’s history of sexual abuse that is widely reported on social media had any role in Hales attack on the school. Was Hale aware of the rumored sexual abuse or, God forbid, was Hale a victim? Who knows? It’s anyone’s guess. And this is the problem with withholding any data that may shed light on what led to Hale’s inexplicable murderous actions.

The conflicts of interest of some of the parents of covenant school are shockingly obvious, having created two cash cows, the Covenant Families for Brighter Tomorrows, and the Covenant Families Action Fund, will surely be used to generate attacks against the second amendment and push for coercive mental health programs of all parents across the State. 

In addition, a trustee of the board of the covenant school, Dr. C. Buddy Creech, is a vaccinologist, at Vanderbilt Medical Center, which also happens to be a major stakeholder in the transitioning industry. It would be interesting to know where Hale was seeking guidance for her transition. This is why it is important to release as much information as possible about the school and the shooter.

 Keeping the public in the dark about Hale’s motives only leads to speculation and conspiracy theories. The families of the victims say that releasing the manifesto and documents will lead to copycat shootings. Naturally, they could be right, but withholding the information may also lead to more shootings. Keeping Hales motives secret does not get the public to why the murders occurred. Only sunshine on the issue can get the public the information it needs to come up with solutions to these deadly acts of cowardice.