FBI Records Show Trans Covenant School Shooter Weighed Targets, Wrote ‘White People I Hate’

Newly released FBI records show that Audrey Hale, the shooter who killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville in 2023, kept written journal entries in which she listed perceived “advantages” and “disadvantages” of attacking different schools years before the shooting, as reported by The New York Post.

According to the documents released this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hale considered carrying out an attack at I.T. Creswell Middle School, a Nashville school she attended between fifth and eighth grades.

Newly released FBI records from the 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville have provided significant insights into the motivations and financial planning of shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale. Following extensive litigation, the FBI made public over 100 pages of Hale’s writings,… pic.twitter.com/Uwvr8PU9V8

— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) December 30, 2025

An entry dated sometime in 2021 identified Creswell as her “1st choice,” but outlined reasons she decided against targeting that location.

In the journal, Hale wrote that one “disadvantage” of attacking Creswell Middle School was that it was a “[predominantly] black school (black people I love).”

Notebook Released By FBI Belonging To Transgender Covenant School Shooter Audrey Hale Confirms It Was A TARGETED Attack on White Christians.

The notebook contains a list of schools breaking down advantages and disadvantages of each.

COVENANT:
– “Predominantly white school… pic.twitter.com/DOjT98zOmh

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 30, 2025

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She added that the “Black community in despair [and] suffering (I don’t want to cause that) = don’t want to harm them = dread.”

Another listed concern was, “Black friends [and] black community will hate me.” Hale also wrote that killing black students would be “likely to influence rasist [sic] white shooters in future.”

The writings indicate that Hale ultimately rejected Creswell Middle School and instead chose The Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville she had attended from kindergarten through fourth grade.

In her list of “advantages” for attacking The Covenant School, Hale wrote that it was a “predominantly white school” because “white people I hate!”

She also noted that the school was Christian, writing that she “hates religion,” and emphasized that she was familiar with the building’s layout due to her years as a student there.

The FBI documents confirm that Hale specifically cited her prior knowledge of the school as a factor in selecting the location.

Audio from a police interview with Hale’s parents, obtained by conservative outlet The Tennessee Star, adds further context.

In that interview, Hale’s mother told detectives that her daughter appeared to feel accepted while attending Creswell Middle School, particularly through athletics.

“I think, somehow, maybe in her mind — you know, she felt because of being in this school, and on this athletic team, and these girls, you know, liked her and were on the team … she felt accepted,” the mother said.

Hale, who identified as male, was 28 years old at the time of the attack. On March 27, 2023, she entered The Covenant School armed with a 9mm carbine and opened fire. Three children and three adults were killed in the shooting.

Officers with the Nashville Police Department responded to the scene and fatally shot Hale within approximately 15 minutes of the first shots being fired, bringing the attack to an end.

The release of Hale’s writings follows ongoing public scrutiny over why certain materials connected to the shooting were not made public sooner.

Law enforcement officials have said the documents were part of an active investigation and subject to legal review before release.

The FBI records provide additional insight into Hale’s planning process and motivations, including explicit statements about race, religion, and prior familiarity with potential targets, while confirming that the decision-making process occurred years before the 2023 attack.

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