FBI must hand over Nashville Christian school shooter's manifesto to judge for review

A judge recently ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to hand over the manifesto of the Covenant School shooter amid an ongoing lawsuit filed by local news outlet the Tennessee Star.

United States District Judge Aleta Trauger ordered the FBI to turn over the writings of the trans-identifying 28-year-old female who shot and killed three children and three adults at the Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 2023. The suspect was shot dead at the scene by police.

Authorities have repeatedly refused to release the shooter's manifesto to the public, prompting state-level lawsuits that are currently tied up in court.

Metropolitan Nashville Police seized the writings, which included a hand-drawn map of the school, from the shooter's vehicle. According to the FBI, releasing the documents to the public "could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings."

Following the tragedy, the Tennessee Star filed a public records request for the writings, which the FBI denied. The news outlet responded by filing a federal lawsuit against the agency for the release of the documents.

The complaint argued that the manifesto has been kept hidden for "long enough" and that the "public has an urgent right to know why this tragedy happened, how future events may be prevented, and what policies should be in place to address this and other similar tragedies."

"The documents are public record, and they should be released. Metro government failed to release them; we asked them nicely. They didn't. They shared those documents with the FBI, and we asked them nicely in accordance with the law. When government entities don't comply with the law, we have recourse through the courts," Michael Leheay with the Tennessee Star stated, WZTV reported.

"At first, I thought we'd be more likely to obtain the documents in state proceedings, but there are a number of parties who do not want those documents revealed and have taken legal actions to impede its release, and I think that's contrary to the public interest," Leheay explained.

The FBI attempted to have the case dismissed, but Judge Trauger ruled that the bureau failed to support its argument "with sufficient clarity or detail." The judge ordered the agency to turn over the shooter's writings for her review before she would decide whether the documents should be released to the public.

"The FBI is ORDERED to produce ex parte all documents that are potentially responsive to the defendants' Freedom of Information Act request for in camera review, with the exception that, based on the plaintiffs' concessions in this litigation, the FBI need not produce any documents that could not reasonably be construed to bear on Audrey Hale's motives," Trauger wrote her decision.

In November, "Louder with Crowder" released three pages purportedly from the shooter's manifesto, Blaze News previously reported. The pages outlined the shooter's schedule for the day of the attack, which she referred to as "death day," the leaked manifesto showed.

"I hope I have a high death count," the shooter wrote. "Let massacre begin. … Time2die."

One of the released pages included the shooter's hate-fueled ramblings.

"Kill those kids!!!" it read. "Those crackers going to private fancy schools with those fancy kwakis [sic] + sports backpacks. W/ thier daddies [sic] mustangs + convertables [sic].”

"F**k you little s**ts. I wish to shoot you weakass dicks w/ your mop yellow hair," she continued. "Wanna kill all you little crackers!!! Bunch of little faggots w/ your white privlages [sic] f**k you faggots."

The police department placed seven officers on administrative assignment while it investigated who leaked the photographs of the manifesto to "Louder with Crowder." The MNPD ultimately closed the probe after failing to identify the source of the leak.

"The investigation, led by the police department's Office of Professional Accountability, determined that the three cell phone photographs were taken in the immediacy of the moment just after the shooter's journals were discovered in her vehicle. Two detectives assigned to the Specialized Investigations Division took the photos (one detective took two photos, the other took one) as part of intelligence gathering to learn more about the shooter and determine whether anyone else was involved with her," the department stated.

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