As the public awaits the FBI’s release of the Nashville Christian elementary school shooter’s “manifesto,” a Tennessee official made a surprising revelation Thursday.
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron reported the documents related to shooter Audrey Hale remain “under analysis.”
But it was the words of Metro Nashville Council member Courtney Johnston to the New York Post that brought the most attention to the FBI’s delay.
She said that she received information that “her manifesto was a blueprint on total destruction, and it was so, so detailed at the level of what she had planned.”
Johnston told the outlet that the FBI will not release the complete manifesto. “That document in the wrong person’s hands would be “astronomically dangerous.”
Why hasn't the Nashville killer's manifesto been released yet?https://t.co/zdscjcxHgO
— The Dallas Express News (@MyDallasExpress) April 12, 2023
She further related that she did not want to know the reaches of Hale’s mental illness “When I’m told by an MNPD high-ranking official that it keeps him up at night, I’m going to defer to that person in that agency that I don’t need to read that.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) related his suspicions to the Post, saying he believed the FBI was behind the concealing of the documents.
He said the news was “disappointing” and that the manifesto “could maybe tell us a little bit more about what’s going on inside of her head. I think that would answer a lot of questions.”
Authorities carried out 20 journals, five laptops, a suicide note, and various other writings from the house she occupied with her parents. Also seized were a pair of memoirs, a collection of Covenant School yearbooks, and seven cellphones.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch described the documents that he had reviewed as “a plan” and “some journal-type rantings.”
Joseph Giacalone has an idea of what the documents contain. He is a former police officer who is now an author and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Giacalone believes that the FBI and other law enforcement are concerned that there is evidence in the manifesto “that is truly damaging to the transgender community.” He observed that there is hesitancy because of a possible “violent backlash against that protected class of people.”
On the flip side, he predicted that if the bureau decided to release a heavily redacted version of the killer’s writings, “you run the risk of letting speculation run the day.”
