NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Wednesday that the department would release The Covenant School shooter documents if ordered by the court to do so.
As of now, the documents are part of a pending lawsuit, including five different parties. Most recently, the court granted motions for The Covenant School, Covenant Presbyterian Church and families to intervene in the discussion over the release of documents written by the shooter. While they will not be responsible for the final decision, their opinion will be allowed in the legal discussion over the matter.
"It's still very much an open investigation," Drake said. "It's in the court process, and the judge will decide if it's going to be released or not."
Five different groups petitioned the court asking for the release of all the shooter's documents: Tennessee Firearms Association, National Police Association, the Tennessee Star, The Tennessean newspaper, and state Sen. Todd Gardenhire. All five of those requests have now been consolidated into one court case.
In the case, MNPD officers have filed declarations about the case and that analyzing the shooter's documents could take up to a year.
The declarations by MNPD Assistant Chief Mike Hagar and Lt. Brent Gibson said that police were still actively investigating the mass shooting that left six people dead in addition to the shooter at The Covenant School. Of the six who died, three of them were children. The two said even though the shooter died the investigation doesn't "automatically close."
"Our whole reason behind this is that in these school shootings, a lot of these people use writings and manifestos for other shootings, and we don't want someone to take the blueprint from Nashville to go kill other kids somewhere else," Drake said. "We are trying to protect the families. That's why they don't want it released."
A show cause hearing about the case will happen June 8.
