The killer’s plans included an attack on another educational institution
School shootings, despite the shock they produce, have long become almost a routine feature of life in the United States — according to statistics, for this per year, almost nine dozen acts of violence involving firearms were associated with children's and educational institutions. But the massacre at a private school in Nashville is out of the ordinary: the killer turned out to be female, or rather, transgender.
According to the Violence Project, which maintains a national database of mass shootings since 1966, most The attackers in such incidents in the United States are men. In a data set of 172 mass shootings, which the group defines as involving four or more victims, only four of the attackers were women or girls. In two cases, women acted side by side with a man. Now the statistics have changed somewhat.
Police have named 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a graphic designer who created business logos, as the shooter in the Nashville Christian school massacre.
However, the gender of the perpetrator is not so simple: police spokeswoman Christine Mumford said that the suspect (or suspect) was born female, but used male pronouns on his social network profile, which suggests that the suspect was a transgender man. Hale's online profiles use the pronouns «he» and «him» and the name Aiden. It is unclear whether Hale identified as a man or a woman at the time of the murders, the New York Post writes.
The killer of six people, including three children, identified himself as transgender and wrote a detailed manifesto about the attack on the educational institution.
Officials said former student Audrey Hale entered the school Monday morning. While inside, Hale killed three children, all 9 years old, as well as custodian Mike Hill, substitute teacher Cynthia Peake, and school principal Catherine Koons. The adults who died ranged in age from 60 to 61.
The killer was indiscriminate in her targeting once she entered the school, shooting through a locked door. “She targeted random students at school. …Whoever she came into contact with, she shot,” law enforcement officials say.
The police who arrived on alert eliminated the transgender shooter.
Police said Hale was carrying at least three guns (including an automatic rifle), and when officers searched her family's Nashville home, they found detailed maps and a manifest about the attack.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake reported that, based on the materials found, Hale was «prepared to do more harm than was actually done» and that she had made plans to attack another school in the area, but abandoned them because the school was too protected.< /p>
Asked whether Hale's identity could be a factor in the motive for the crime, Drake said authorities «believe she identifies as trans, but we are still in the initial investigation of all of this and whether that actually played a role in this incident.»< /p>
Investigators believe the massacre was motivated by “some resentment” that the suspect harbored “for having to go to that school” in the past. Police Chief Drake did not specify the nature of such alleged outrage or whether it had anything to do with the shooter's gender identity or the school's Christian orientation.
Indeed, Hale was a graduate of a small private Presbyterian school that educates students from preschool age through 6th grade and which has only about 200 students, according to its website. The stake focuses its curriculum on biblical theology, where students take Bible classes along with standard education courses.
Police said Hale had no police record or record of mental health issues.
However, the Nashville shooting is not the first incident of its kind involving transgender people in the United States. Thus, in 2020, 17-year-old transgender Alec McKinney was sentenced in Douglas County District Court for shooting at a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school in Highlands Ranch (Colorado) on May 7, 2019. McKinney pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and related charges. As a juvenile offender, McKinney was eligible for parole after 40 years under state law.
Born female, McKinney admitted plotting the school shooting as revenge for bullying by classmates. According to police, McKinney and his accomplice Devon Erickson were using drugs and stole three handguns and a rifle belonging to Erickson's parents before storming the school. As a result of their attack, one student was killed and eight others were injured.
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