(Originally published in WND.)
It was in March that a transgender named Audrey Hale entered the Covenant School in Tennessee and murdered three 9-year-old students and three staff members. Hale would have undoubtedly killed more if not stopped by quick-acting police.
Among the evidence collected in the wake of the massacre was a “manifesto” people believe explained Hale’s motivation. Rather than releasing this information to the public, the authorities quickly suppressed it.
Tennessee U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, claimed the FBI was behind the delay in releasing the manifesto, according to The New York Post. Nashville Council Member Courtney Johnston hasn’t seen the manifesto, but she was told it is “blueprint on total destruction.” She said the level of detail in the plan was being used as justification to withhold it, adding, “that document in the wrong person’s hands would be astronomically dangerous.”
Public records requests were turned down on the basis that the investigation was an open case.
At one point, it was announced that the Nashville Police would release the document, but then it was once again withheld because of pending litigation.
“Due to pending litigation filed this week, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has 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,” the Nashville Police Department tweeted earlier this month.
“It has been more than a month since the shooter was killed and the officers involved have been praised for their actions in the incident,” Doug Pierce, a lawyer for the National Police Association told Fox News. “Accordingly, there is no criminal case and there is no reasonable likelihood of there ever being a criminal case arising from this incident.”
The NPA has sued to have the information released to the public. The Hale family initially fought this, claiming that they own Audrey’s writings.
“During the course of this hearing, a real kind of gratuitous thing happened, and that is one of the lawyers for the parents introduced a criminal defense lawyer who says that he represents the parents of the shooter,” Pierce told Fox News Digital this month. “He said that the shooter died without having a will and therefore has no other heirs, so whatever those writings, i.e., the manifesto, he says they belong to the parents, and the parents are going to assign their interest in those writings to the school.”
Indeed, the Hales later transferred ownership of the documents to the Covenant School parents.
These are documents that should have already been released. The assumption is that because Audrey was transgender, it has become a political hot potato, and the writings will be harmful to the transgender cause.
It’s hard to believe that their release could do more damage than the people who are trying to suppress it have already done to their cause.
In the wake of the shooting, many media pundits and people on social media either tried to downplay the fact that Hale was transsexual or that Hale’s actions were somehow justified. In doing so, the victims were sometimes made to look as if they were partially to blame.
The full truth needs to come out. The Hales are not helping their child by fighting the release of evidence that should be public. This action makes them accessories to Audrey’s crime, and it doesn’t change the fact that Audrey murdered three children and three adults.
