Seven Nashville detectives suspended after unauthorized leak of school shooter Audrey Hale’s alleged writings
The Nashville Police Department has suspended seven detectives in relation to the unauthorized leak of school shooter Audey Hale’s writings, according to a report.
The officers were placed on administrative duty Wednesday as the agency attempts to pinpoint exactly how conservative commentator Steven Crowder obtained the explosive documents, according to NBC’s Nashville affiliate.
Department spokesperson Don Aaron told the station “seven individuals are on administrative assignment to protect the integrity of the active, progressing investigation.”
Aaron stressed the move was “absolutely not punitive” and said the suspended detectives would not be named at this time.
Crowder said an unidentified party contacted a member of his website’s investigative unit claiming to be in possession of a portion of Hale’s writings.
A member of his team flew to Nashville to meet the source, who showed him images of the documents embedded in a text exchange with a person Crowder described as a “Nashville detective.”
Crowder said his team were then able to research and authenticate them, paving the way for their release.
While media and some law enforcement groups have argued the writings should be in the public domain, the Covenant School and several victims’ family members have opposed their release.
“I am deeply concerned with the safety, security, and well-being of the Covenant families and all Nashvillians who are grieving,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in a statement after Crowder unveiled Hale’s materials.
A group of parents whose children were present during the massacre also denounced the leak through a spokesman.
“You have now allowed [the shooter], who terrorized our family with bullets, to be able to now terrorize us with words from the grave,” said Brent Leatherwood, a Covenant parent.
O’Connell said he would launch a probe into the leak in conjunction with Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
Crowder has stood by the release, arguing that other mass shooter manifestos have been released in a timely fashion.
“This was one that did not follow along with that narrative,” he said this week. “And a lot of people thought it was necessary for this to be out. And there are people involved with the Nashville PD who also believe things have not necessarily been transparent.”
Nashville police initially said they would release at least 20 journals and a ‘memoir’ belonging to Hale after their investigation concluded.
But they have since cited lawsuits related to the materials in delaying any release.
Hale, who was transgender, revealed a deep anti-white animus in her writings — especially towards those she considered “privileged.”
Three 9-year-olds: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney were gunned down during the rampage.
Three school employees — Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school, custodian Mike Hill, 61, and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak — were also shot dead.
