Latest news with #NashvilleSchoolShootingManifesto
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
FBI director opens up files on Nashville school shooting to lawmaker for first time
A Tennessee congressman viewed documents relating to the 2023 Covenant school shooting for the first time, praising the Director Kash Patel-led FBI for upholding the Trump administration's "radical transparency" promise. Rep. John Rose told Fox News Digital he was offered full access to the documents, including the writings of suspect Audrey Hale, a transgender woman who was a former student and killed three children and three adults on March 27 of that year. The GOP lawmaker said he sent a letter to the FBI the month after the shooting and received a response in November telling him to effectively seek what he was looking for from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. He contrasted that with Patel's FBI's quick turnaround in accessing the documents. Covenant School Trans Shooter Plotted Nashville Attack For Years, Kept Notebooks And Plans: Final Report "They are primarily comprised of the writings and work of the perpetrator of the Covenant School shooting. But they do provide a great deal of insight and I think confirm some of the suspicions that I've had all along," Rose said. Read On The Fox News App "We really never received a response [regarding a document inquiry] from the Metro National Police Department (MNPD) one way or the other… We got a letter that was really non-responsive and basically indicated they would not release the information to us. So it's remarkable that in just a little over 40 days that new FBI Director Kash Patel has made this information available for us to look at." Many of the documents have been under seal and are the subject of legal battles in the Volunteer State. Nashville Chancery Court Chancellor I'ashea Myles ruled in 2024 that much of Hale's writings are protected by copyright law, which trumps the state's records statute. An official with the MNPD told Fox News Digital there was also concern in the courts and among law enforcement that the detailed writings could inspire copycat violence. "This investigation was meticulous and ran through this year and at the conclusion of the investigation we issued the 48-page summary," the official told Fox News Digital on Thursday. "There exists to this day the Chancery Court, an order that restricts the shooter's writing from being publicly released [but] through the 48-page summary, we've wanted all to know what our findings were in this mass shooting case; in the days after our officers responded so bravely into the building to stop the threat," the official added. Nashville School Shooting Manifesto: Why Killers Write About Motives The MNPD said they were aware the FBI was contemplating releasing some of the material and echoed copycat-related concerns – and that the bureau understood those reservations and redacted parts of what has been witnessed by Rose. However, Rose said that after Patel allowed him to view the documents, he is "more assured than ever" that the information within should be made public so that people can better understand the tragedy. He disputed claims that the MNPD has been entirely forthright, saying, "I think they've just stonewalled… and frankly I think that makes it impossible for policymakers, legislators to take any action with respect to the incidents around this heinous act that happened back in March of 2023," he said. "We simply can't be expected to take action when we don't understand the nature of this crime. And so the public is entitled to that information, but as policymakers, I feel like we simply cannot be expected to make a policy based on innuendo and supposition when the information is available." Read the Nashville police report here. "And had this been any other significant crime of this nature, including a mass shooting, we know from historic precedent that virtually all of this information would have been released in the normal course for public inspection and consideration." As for sensitivity, he said that there is "tough information" in what he has seen and that he has sympathy for the victims of the shooting, but that in order to protect society, the information currently being held should be accessible to better understand the perpetrator and more. MNPD denied any stonewalling allegation and cited the Chancery Court order in its response. Rose did, however, appear to support some of the redactions, suggesting that a careful review process could allow documents from and about the shooter to be used in understanding the "heinous crime," identifying others who may be responsible and examining how society may have missed chances to prevent it. Nashville police also released their final report on the shooting, first reported at the time by Fox News Digital. Rather than a highly anticipated manifesto, the report found that Hale left behind numerous notebooks, art books and computer documents about plans to commit the attack and gain notoriety, partly inspired by the Columbine school shooting in 1999. Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this article source: FBI director opens up files on Nashville school shooting to lawmaker for first time
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Tennessee repeat felon charged in Rhodes College student's 2021 murder learns his fate
A repeat felon charged in connection with a Rhodes College student's 2021 murder and home invasion pleaded guilty on Monday and received his prison sentence. Rainess Holmes, now 40, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to serve 100% of a 20-year prison sentence, plus a combined nine years for three separate burglary cases. Holmes, a career criminal with charges dating back to 2005, was one of four men who broke into a Memphis home housing several college students, including 22-year-old senior Andrew "Drew" Rainer, at 5:40 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2021, Shelby County court records state. The surviving residents told Memphis police that four men with hoodies drawn over their faces kicked in their door and demanded the students' electronics. Fugitive Arrested After Posting Video Taunting Police On Social Media To 'Locate' Him "Andrew Rainer was told to type in the pass code to his iPad and when he failed to do so was shot," the arrest affidavit states. Read On The Fox News App The suspects left the home with "several phones, gaming systems, video games" and other electronics belonging to the victims, police said. Man Charged With Making Threats Against Ice Agents, Dhs Sec Kristi Noem In 'Alarming' Social Media Posts When Memphis police arrived at the scene, they found Rainer dead with a gunshot wound at the bottom of a staircase inside the home. One of the residents of the home was able to track his iPad's location to a hotel, where authorities were able to establish a perimeter and eventually track down Holmes, but he fled the area, "jumped a drainage ditch and escaped the area." He was briefly placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list and was detained two days later on Oct. 5. Texas Dad's Tiktok Videos Helped Lead Police To Son's Suspected Killer: 'It Paid Off' The Shelby County District Attorney's Office said in a Monday statement that it "worked very closely" with Rainer's family "throughout the process." "They were present in court and supportive of the outcome," the DA's office said. Covenant School Trans Shooter Plotted Nashville Attack For Years, Kept Notebooks With Plans: Final Report Holmes was not the suspect who fatally shot Rainer. Memphis police are still searching for the other three suspects involved in the home invasion and murder. Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to any additional arrests in the case. Nashville School Shooting Manifesto: Why Killers Write About Motives "One arrest has been made relative to this homicide," Major Webb Kirkdoffer of the Memphis Police Department's Homicide Bureau said in a statement. "However, investigators still need the public's help identifying additional individuals who are responsible for Rainer's murder." A memorial fund created in Rainer's name called "Live Like Drew" says he "loved with great intensity, and showed enormous courage and self-sacrifice." He was also an accomplished musician who played in an 80s rock band, an avid reader, an Eagle Scout, and a devoted member of the Catholic Church, according to his obituary. "Drew was a loving son, brother, nephew, cousin and friend. He was a kind, cheerful, intelligent and outgoing young man, who was loved by his friends," his obituary article source: Tennessee repeat felon charged in Rhodes College student's 2021 murder learns his fate
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Yahoo
Covenant School trans shooter plotted Nashville attack for years, kept notebooks with plans: final report
FIRST ON FOX: Nashville police have released their final report on the Covenant School massacre – a targeted March 2023 attack on a Christian school by a transgender shooter who killed three third-graders and three adults. Rather than a highly anticipated manifesto, the report found that killer Audrey Hale left behind numerous notebooks, art books and computer documents about her plans to commit the attack and gain notoriety, partly inspired by the Columbine school shooting in 1999. Hale, the 28-year-old attacker and biological female, began "fantasizing" about and researching mass shootings as far back as 2017, according to investigators. A year later, she wrote "detailed fantasies" about shooting up the Isaac T. Creswell Middle Magnet School for the Arts, killing her father and killing her psychiatrist. Nashville School Shooting Manifesto: Why Killers Write About Motives "In this case, a manifesto didn't exist," the document reads. "Hale never left behind a single document explaining why she committed the attack, why she specifically targeted The Covenant, and what she hoped to gain, if anything, with the attack." Instead, her motivations were scattered across those many notebooks and other writings, investigators found. They included an image showing more than two-dozen notebooks seized from Hale's car and bedroom. They also said she left a suicide note addressed to her parents. Read On The Fox News App Read the Nashville police report: "In short, the motive determined over the course of the investigation was notoriety," according to investigators. "Even though numerous disappointments in relationships, career aspirations, and independence fueled her depression, and even though this depression made her highly suicidal, this doesn't explain the attack. As Hale wrote on several occasions, if suicide was her goal then she would have simply killed herself." Hale wanted people to remember her after her death, according to the document, and was partly inspired by books and documentaries on the Columbine killers. She wanted similar records of her own life and expected her guns, artwork and journals to be preserved in museums around the world. "Most disturbingly, she wanted the things she left behind to be shared with the world so she could inspire and teach others who were 'mentally disordered' like her to plan and commit an attack of their own," investigators wrote. Nashville School Shooter Manifesto: Police Group Sides With School In Lawsuit Over Release Because of Hale's consistent diaries over a period of years, police said they were able to collect far more information about her than in a typical investigation. They found no evidence of accomplices and said she wanted to prove her "superiority." The Covenant School was attached to a church that Hale once attended, and she chose the target because of her connection to it, because children wouldn't put up a fight, and because she wanted to obtain infamy, according to police. She killed three 9-year-olds: the pastor's daughter Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney. The three adults she killed were 60-year-old Head of School Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Mike Hill, 61. Her biggest fear in the attack, at 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 120 pounds, was running into a "hero" who could physically overpower her and force her to be captured alive. So she settled on an elementary school that she described as the setting for her "happiest" childhood memories. "She never remarked of being bullied and ostracized there; on the contrary, she remarked on a couple of occasions how she established friendships, which included play-dates at the homes of other children and a sense of acceptance," police revealed. "She gave no examples of how anyone at the school belittled her or harmed her, as she did in other places she attended school. Because of this, Hale felt The Covenant was the perfect place to commit an attack, as it was the perfect setting for her death." Nashville School Shooter Audrey Hale: Who Is 28-Year-old Transgender Former Student Who Opened Fire At School The killer also had plans for "B" and "C" targets – the Opry Mills Mall and a stretch of Belmont Boulevard near Belmont University campus in Nashville. If her parents discovered her plans, she decided she would kill them and attack the Belmont target, according to investigators. She spent months practicing at the firing range and painted the phrase "Dark Abyss" on her clothes and guns. That was the name she had given to her depression. But the attack was delayed multiple times, including once after the death of a close friend in a car crash. Hale, who began using the name "Aiden Williams" in the years before her death, was killed by responding officers in harrowing bodycam video. "Hale felt she would be a failure if she killed less than 10 people during the attack. In that respect, she did fail, in no small part due to the actions of the faculty and staff at The Covenant," police wrote. "But she managed to attain the notoriety she craved simply by self-documenting her life and actions in a way no other mass killer has done before." This is a breaking news story. Check back for article source: Covenant School trans shooter plotted Nashville attack for years, kept notebooks with plans: final report
