NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The FBI has now released pages and pages of entries of The Covenant School shooter's journals.
Those journals were previously tied up in a public records court case in the Tennessee court system. In early April, the Metro Nashville Police Department released a 48-page summary report, which painted a picture of the mental health of Aubrey Hale. In March 2023, Hale killed three students and three staff members at school. While responding to the shooting, police shot and killed Hale.
Tap to read the full report by the Metro Nashville Police Department.
The police report concluded that no one else was involved in the shooting other than Hale, and it absolves Hale’s mental health providers of any responsibility in failing to report their patient’s conditions to authorities.
The journals released paint the picture of a pained person, writing about lost love, their autism and hurt. It also had entries of Hale writing about death, a death week list, a death day to-do list and a death date note where she declared she would see a friend in heaven.
"Death will be my way to find a better life," she wrote. "I hate you (life you). I don't care if you die. I want to kill you. Everything sucks."
Police said her writings weren't a manifesto, just random journal entries. They include several entries about love, loss, and self-hatred. However, the journal did include schematics of The Covenant School, which the FBI redacted. She also wrote down the school's calendar, noting their break schedule as well as the names of the faculty there.
"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," the police final report said.
The closer to March 27, the more Hale wrote about the need to die and referenced the Columbine High School shooters.
"I am sorry. Innocent lives will be taken," she wrote on March 13, 2023.
Hale wrote that she was considering Opry Mills Mall as a potential target, but changed her mind because of the security at the location. She also had previous dates she planned to carry out her attack, but didn't follow through on those dates.
"It's hard to live, but easy to die," she wrote.
It's not clear what will happen to the public records case for the materials involved in the Covenant School shooting.
If you want to see the journals for yourself, you can tap here.
A representative of the Covenant School parents told us late Thursday that there is nothing new or surprising in the documents.
"It is simply the same pages that were leaked to and published by another news outfit back in September. While the parents are, of course, disappointed that documents that may lead to more school shootings are being released, and indeed disappointed that anyone would want to release or publish them, there is nothing new to what the FBI has posted."
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