WHAT CHANGED FOR NASHVILLE SHOOTER? Yearbook photo shows a teen Audrey Hale smiling with basketball team
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: A school yearbook photo that has recently surfaced shows Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale in his teenage years. Hale, 28, was part of the Lady Comets hoops team during his time at Isaiah T Creswell Middle School in Nashville. The group photo shows him smiling and beaming along with the other female members of the team.
Hale was biologically female but preferred the pronouns "he/him". He was a former student at the Covenant School but it is unclear when or for how long. He murdered three students and three staffers before being shot dead by cops. Hale's coach Antoine Buchanan said the shooter was a "bench warmer" who liked to play only if the team was "really winning" or "really losing".
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Audrey Hale's 'stalkerish behavior'
Former teammates of Hale recently spoke up about his odd behavior, with one of them, Mia Phillips, saying he was "shy". Phillips told The Tennessean that after they went their separate ways to different schools, he would keep messaging her on social media. She once even found an email from an account that was just set up. "I'm trying to be as respectful and also as honest as possible. It felt obsessive. It felt like stalkerish behavior," Phillips said.
Previously, Hale's high school friend reportedly said that she was shocked to learn that the person she ran track with carried out such a brutal massacre. The friend, who has not been named, described Hale as "sweet and funny," recalling their memories at the Nashville School of the Arts from around 2011 to 2014. "What she did was unforgivable but when I knew her she was a sweet and funny girl," the friend told Daily Mail, adding, "When she came out as trans (female to male) no one was surprised."
"She really didn't fit the school shooter archetype. I don't know what would have happened to turn her into this person we see on the news. Everyone in my graduating class is losing it on Facebook. Really none would have seen this coming," the friend added.
Audrey Hale left behind a manifesto
Hale's motive remains unclear but he left behind a manifesto, according to the Daily Mail. He was wielding two assault-style rifles and a pistol at the scene of the crime and was gunned down by responding officers who found him on the second floor of the school. He had no record of mental health problems and did not have police records. Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released footage of Hale driving his car and breaking into the Covenant School, carrying his firearm.
The victims of the shooting have been identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all nine years of age, Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.