The killer also planned to attack another educational institution
School shootings, despite the shock they produce, have long become almost a routine sign of life in the United States — according to statistics, during this almost nine dozen acts of violence involving the use of firearms are associated with children's and educational institutions every year. But the massacre at a private school in Nashville is out of the ordinary: the killer turned out to be a female, or rather, a transgender.
According to the Violence Project, which maintains a national database of mass shootings dating back to 1966, most the attackers in such incidents in the United States are men. In a dataset of 172 mass shootings, which the group defines as involving four or more victims, only four of the attackers were women or girls. In two cases, the women acted side by side with the man. Now the statistics have changed a bit.
Police named 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a graphic designer who created business logos, as the gunman who staged the massacre at a Christian school in Nashville.
However, the gender of the offender is not so simple: police spokeswoman Christine Mumford said that the suspect (or suspect) was born a woman, but used male pronouns in the profile on the social network, which suggests that the suspect was a transgender man. Hale's online profiles use the pronouns «he» and «him», as well as the name Aiden. It is unclear whether Hale identified himself as male or female at the time of the murders, writes the New York Post.
The killer of six people, including three children, identified himself as transgender and wrote a detailed manifesto about the attack on the educational institution.
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Officials said former student Audrey Hale entered the school on Monday morning. While inside, Hale killed three children — all of them 9 years old — as well as caretaker Mike Hill, substitute teacher Cynthia Peake, and headmaster Catherine Koons. The adults who died were between 60 and 61 years old.
The killer was indiscriminate in her targeting as soon as she entered the school, firing through the locked door. “She targeted random students at the school. …With whomever she came into contact, she shot,” law enforcement officials say.
The police officers who arrived on alarm liquidated the transgender shooter.
Police said Hale was in possession of at least three shotguns (including an automatic rifle), and when they searched her family's home in Nashville, police found detailed maps and a manifesto of the attack.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake reported that, based on the materials found, Hale was «ready to cause more harm than was actually done», and that she was developing plans to attack another school in the area, but abandoned them because the school was too protected.< /p>
Asked if Hale's identity could be a motive for the crime, Drake said authorities «we believe she identifies as trans, but we're still in the initial stages of investigating all of this and whether it really played a role in this incident.»< /p>
Investigators believe that the massacre was caused by «some resentment» that the suspect had «for having to go to this school» in the past. Police Chief Drake did not elaborate on the nature of this alleged resentment or whether it had anything to do with the shooter's gender identity or the school's Christian orientation.
Indeed, Hale was a graduate of a small private Presbyterian school catering to students from preschool age through 6th grade and, according to its website, has only about 200 students. the stake focuses its curriculum on biblical theology, where students attend Bible classes along with standard education courses.
Police said there was no police file or mental health record on Hale.
Whatever the case, the Nashville shooting is not the first incident of its kind involving a transgender public in the United States. So, in 2020, 17-year-old transgender Alec McKinney was sentenced by the Douglas County District Court for shooting at the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Highlands Ranch (Colorado) on May 7, 2019. McKinney pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and related charges. As a juvenile delinquent, McKinney became eligible for parole after 40 years under state law.
The female-born McKinney admitted to plotting a school shooting as revenge for bullying classmates. According to police, McKinney and his accomplice Devon Erickson were drug addicts and stole three pistols and a rifle belonging to Erickson's parents before storming the school. As a result of their attack, one student was killed and eight others were injured.