NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — New podcast video, uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, reveals even more disturbing claims pushed by Millersville's conspiracy cop.
In that podcast, Shawn Taylor — now the assistant police chief in Millersville, a small town just north of Nashville — spreads false and dangerous conspiracy theories about last year's Covenant School shooting that left three students and three staff members dead.
This development follows an exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation that first raised questions about Taylor's many bizarre conspiracy theories.
"So this has a whole lot more to it than what the general public knows," Taylor claimed during a podcast discussion last year of the Covenant shooting.
He joined fellow conspiracy theorists Michael Jaco and Alfredo Luna. Like Taylor, Luna is another former cop who regularly promotes bizarre ideas on his own podcast.
Jaco argued the whole tragedy was faked.
"I think it was a training thing, like we're talking about. Same thing with Uvalde — I don't think that happened as well."
Jaco followed up by asking Taylor for his thoughts, and Taylor did not disagree.
"Well, I'm going to kinda, I'm going to be kind of all over the place on this," he answered.
In the video, Shawn Taylor cannot seem to decide which ridiculous idea he likes more.
Perhaps, he suggested, the mass shooting was part of a plot to distract from political problems facing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee or the criminal investigation of Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk's office.
"They executed a search warrant on his office the Friday before the school shooting," Taylor said, referring to Funk. "So is this trying to take light off of him, trying to take light off the governor? Maybe."
Even more disturbing, Taylor claimed — with zero evidence — that the shooter was actually trying to take out a school official who was somehow involved in a sinister scheme.
"You guys know that I am digging into the child trafficking and human trafficking — and this woman just happened to be a part of that," Taylor told his fellow conspiracy theorists.
"Wow," Jaco exclaimed.
"And she was being looked at in that realm of trafficking of children," Taylor continued.
Metro Nashville police say that is a complete lie.
As NewsChannel 5 Investigates previously reported, Taylor also believes in the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory that Democrats kept child sex slaves locked up in the basement of a pizza parlor in D.C. — the so-called Pizzagate hoax.
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Still, Taylor's lies don't stop there.
"What people do not know is they did a training and simulation at that school the week previous," he told the other podcasters.
"Wow!" Jaco replied.
Luna followed up, "And that's confirmed, Shawn?"
"Yes," Taylor insisted.
Again, Jaco exclaimed: "Wow."
"The same thing happened at Uvalde," Luna claimed.
Taylor agreed.
Again, police say Turner's claims are 100% false, that officers had never trained at Covenant.
But that did not stop Taylor from imagining that the bodycam video — from the heroic officers who charged into the school and ended the shooting — was actually from the same training exercise that he also imagined.
The brave staff who helped direct police to the shooter, in Taylor's twisted mind, may have been role-playing.
"Have you ever seen civilians so calm and so composed during an active shooter scenario?" Luna asked.
"Absolutely not," Taylor responded. "They are screaming."
Jaco chimed in, "I said the same thing. And he's not running to the gunfire. He's just strolling along."
Taylor agreed.
Rather than seeing the shooting as a horrific event that cost six innocent people their lives, Taylor claimed that perhaps it was some combination of his kooky ideas.
"Could it be that this woman who was involved in the child trafficking was taken out, and they needed a bigger scenario so they used this as this training op, and then they removed this woman on the side?" Taylor asked.
Then, there are the protests on Tennessee's Capitol Hill calling for new gun laws.
Shawn Taylor suggested it was really part of a transgender plot.
"Within a day or so of the shooting, you had the Capitol overrun with people that were backing the transgender community and all of that," he insisted. "They organized marches for the kids to create gun control."
Again, these protests had nothing to do with transgender issues — except in the mind of the man who now has a gun and a badge.
"The people know and the three of us know something's not right, it doesn't pass the smell test, something's up," Taylor insisted.
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake issued a statement, condemning Taylor's conspiracy theories.
“The claims referenced are patently false," Drake said. "Creating or perpetuating baseless rumors such as these is irresponsible and serves no purpose but to cause harm to our community, especially to Covenant families.”
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
Here is how this investigation has unfolded:
May 20, 2024: Meet Millersville's conspiracy cop. He imagines sinister plots involving some of the country's most prominent political figures. Taylor recently landed in Millersville as assistant police chief, promising to root out the corruption he sees there. You can continue reading at this hyperlink.
May 22, 2024: The controversy over Millersville's conspiracy cop has now become the latest scandal rocking the tiny town just north of Nashville. Now, two city commissioners want a special meeting to figure out how Shawn Taylor landed his job. You can continue reading Part Two at this link.
May 24, 2024: An attorney for Millersville conspiracy cop Shawn Taylor has told Millersville's city commission, whom he also represents, that they should not question the assistant police chief's bizarre theories or psychological fitness. You can read more of this installment at this link.
May 28, 2024: New podcast video, uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, reveals how Shawn Taylor spread false and dangerous conspiracy theories about last year's Covenant School shooting that left three students and three staff members dead. You can click here to review that story.
May 28, 2024: Anna Caudill agreed to watch the video of Shawn Taylor knowing there might be only so much she could handle. Among the three children and three adults killed that day was her friend, Katherine Koonce. You can read more of Anna's story by tapping on this link.
June 3, 2024: First, he went after Millersville’s former mayor. Now, the town’s assistant police chief says his two critics on the city commission could be next. Shawn Taylor made those comments as he turned to a group of far-right podcasters to defend himself. Tap this link to read from those Taylor's accused.
June 4, 2024: Millersville officials are standing with their assistant police chief and his bizarre conspiracy theories regarding Nashville's Covenant School shooting. Read how this meeting played out at this link.
June 5, 2024: Bryant Kroll wears a lot of hats. He's the attorney representing the embattled City of Millersville. He also represents Mayor Tommy Long, who faces accusations of misconduct in an ouster suit. Plus, he's the attorney for Bryan Morris and Shawn Taylor. To understand the role he plays, you can read that here.
June 6, 2024: In Shawn Taylor's world — in the immortal words of Taylor Swift — "I'm the problem, it's me." I explain how we got here in this piece, which you can click on here.
June 18, 2024: Millersville's conspiracy cop now has his very own conspiracy-minded attorney. Now, our NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that Todd Callender's own theories are sometimes even more far-fetched than Taylor’s twisted view of the world. Click here to read more about Shawn Taylor’s attorney.
July 15, 2024: What happens when you give people with bizarre conspiracy theories a gun and a badge? Secret recordings from inside the troubled Millersville Police Department provide a sobering answer to that question. Read more on this investigation by tapping here.
July 22, 2024: In an explosive new development that could bring new trouble for the already-troubled Millersville Police Department, a key player in a child-predator sting says the lead detective on that operation lied under oath. You can read more about that by clicking here.
July 23, 2024: District Attorney General Robert Nash has asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the Millersville Police Department's handling of a child predator sting, including possible perjury by the lead detective. You can read more about that by tapping here.
July 29, 2024: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has expanded its probe of the embattled Millersville Police Department, now looking into allegations that officials may have used sensitive law enforcement data to investigate their political enemies. Read more about that by clicking here.
August 5, 2024: With the Millersville Police Department now the focus of a TBI investigation, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered new questions about the stories that conspiracy cop Shawn Taylor tells about himself. You can catch up on the investigation by tapping here.
August 12, 2024: In a perplexing pair of podcast interviews, the Millersville chief of police says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has begun limiting his department's access to certain sensitive law enforcement data. Read more about this latest development here.
August 26, 2024: He has helped to fuel some of the wild conspiracy theories inside the troubled Millersville Police Department. He is a self-proclaimed pedophile hunter who believes America is controlled by what he calls "a satanic cult masquerading as Jews." Read more about Craig Sawyer by clicking here.
August 27, 2024: Craig Sawyer’s response to my investigation illustrates how conspiracy theorists frequently use wild accusations and blustery language to avoid giving real answers about their bizarre beliefs. Tap here to watch as we dissect his 90-minute diatribe.
September 4, 2024: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Millersville Police Department and Shawn Taylor’s home, executing a pair of search warrants as the criminal investigation into the troubled agency enters a dramatic new phase. Read more about this new twist in the Millersville investigation.
September 10, 2024: “No, a TBI agent didn't pee in Shawn Taylor's tub, agency says in response to Taylor's latest claim.” The headline says it all. Click here.
September 19, 2024: QAnon-aligned voices of the far right are threatening retaliation against a judge, a district attorney and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents for their roles in the recent Millersville raids. Details posted here.
October 7, 2024: A well-known Arizona election denier says his group — working through Millersville's conspiracy-minded assistant police chief — gained access to a highly confidential federal database that tracks Americans’ banking transactions and other financial data. Read the exclusive story here.
October 22, 2024: Two key GOP lawmakers – the chairman and a member of the state House committee that oversees the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department. You can read the letter here.
October 24, 2024: A letter from two GOP lawmakers, which appeared to threaten the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for its probe of the Millersville Police Department, was the "wrong way to go," House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. But there is more to the speaker's reaction.
December 9, 2024: Shawn Taylor, the conspiracy-minded cop now at the center of a criminal investigation, has resigned from his position as assistant chief for the Millersville Police Department after less than a year on the job. Read more here.
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