Nashville shooting: Covenant shooter Audrey Hale’s final text messages before massacre revealed

A former middle school basketball teammate of Audrey Hale, the shooter at Christian Covenant School in Nashville, received disturbing messages from Hale the morning of the mass shooting that killed three adults and three children.

Teammate Averianna Patton confirmed that she received messages from Hale, whose Instagram profile had the name “Aiden”. Police later confirmed that Hale, a biological woman, identified as a transgender man.

Hale had planned to die by suicide and informed Patton about it through Instagram messages. “This is my last goodbye. I love you,” Hale wrote, “See you again in another life. Audrey (Aiden).”

Patton reached out to the Suicide Prevention Help Line immediately to seek help for Audrey. Hale had told Patton that “something bad is about to happen”. The shooter also claimed to have left behind sufficient evidence, insinuating detailed maps of the school and a manifesto.

Officers arrived at the school 14 minutes after Hale had shot four people till death and injured several others. The victims of the Covenant School shooting are Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney (all nine years old), Cynthia Peak (61), Katherine Koonce (60), and Mike Hill (61). Cynthia was a substitute teacher, Katherine was the head of Covenant School, and Mike was a custodian.