The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced Wednesday it is delaying the release of the manifesto of Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale because of “pending litigation.”
In a tweet, police said they had “been advised by counsel to hold in abeyance the release of records related to the shooting at The Covenant School pending orders or direction of the court.”
Earlier this week, the Tennessee Firearms Association and former Hamilton County Sheriff James Hammond filed a lawsuit demanding release of Hale’s journals, according to WSMV.
That lawsuit reportedly requested a court to force police to release Hale’s journals, writings and other records linked to the March 27 mass shooting in which six were killed, including three 9-year-old children.
NASHVILLE POLICE TO RELEASE MANIFESTO IN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL SHOOTING MASSACRE
Audrey Elizabeth Hale was identified by police as the shooter who opened fire at The Covenant School, killing six people. (FOX NEWS)
Last week, Nashville police confirmed to Fox News Digital that they would release the manifesto recovered from the car of Hale, a 28-year-old transgender former student.
“The investigation has progressed to the point where the Covenant shooter’s writings are now being reviewed for public release,” the Metro Nashville Police Department said at the time. “This process is currently underway.”
Hale slept with journals on other school shootings under her bed in her parents’ house. Police seized the journals and a trove of documents and electronic devices, court filings revealed. Among them were hand-drawn maps of the school.
NASHVILLE POLICE FIND SUICIDE NOTE, YEARBOOKS, WEAPONS, AMMO AT HOME OF SCHOOL SHOOTER: REPORT
The Covenant School shooter walks past the children’s ministry desk. (Twitter @MNPDNashville)
Hale also left behind a suicide note on a desk under one of several laptops police recovered near a list of passwords in the bedroom.
Police also found two “memoirs,” notes on firearms training, a 12-gauge Mossberg 590 and a 20-gauge Winchester Model 1200. The barrel of one of the guns had been sawed off, police said previously.
Court records suggested Hale had no criminal history in Metro Nashville or Davidson County.
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said investigators had not immediately determined a motive but that they believed Hale, a former student, had specifically targeted the Christian school and its affiliated church.
Nashville police recovered two rifles and a handgun following a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a Christian elementary school. Suspect Audrey Elizabeth Hale, 28, was killed at the school. (Nashville Police Department )
The child victims included the pastor’s daughter Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney. Police identified the adults as Head of School Katherine Koonce, 60, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Mike Hill, 61.
“The motive for Hale’s actions has not been established and remains under investigation by the Homicide Unit in consultation with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. It is known that Hale considered the actions of other mass murderers,” Nashville police said in early April. “The investigation shows that Hale fired a total of 152 rounds (126 5.56 rifle rounds and 26 nine millimeter rounds) from the time she shot her way into the school until she was killed by police. Two officers fired on Hale.”
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
