Nashville School Shooter Was Once 'Sweet & Funny' Who Was Supported By LGBTQ+ Community In High School, Friend Reveals
Hale reportedly identified as a transgender man and went by the name Aiden.
The Nashville school shooter who killed three children and three adults in Tennessee earlier this week was described as “sweet and funny” by a high school friend, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Audrey Hale, 28, was named by police as the gunman who opened fire at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday morning and killed three 9-year-old children as well as three adults.
According to the police, Hale was transgender and transitioned from a female to a male sometime after graduating high school in 2014.
But at least one high school friend of Hale’s, who attended the Nashville School of the Arts with the gunman between 2011 and 2014, spoke out after the shooting to express shock that Hale was the one who committed the school shooting.
“What she did was unforgivable but when I knew her she was a sweet and funny girl,” the friend, who asked to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail on Monday. “When she came out as trans (female to male) no one was surprised.”
“She really didn't fit the school shooter archetype,” the friend continued. “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.”
“We went to Nashville School of the Arts in high school, where we had several trans students and others who were a part of the LGBTQ community,” the friend told the outlet further. “We were both in Visual Arts classes together and she was very involved with the school and had several friends.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Hale opened fire at The Covenant School in Nashville at approximately 10:13 AM on Monday morning.
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The shooter killed three 9-year-old children, as well as substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61, school principal Katherine Koonce, 60, and school custodian Mike Hill, 61, before being killed by responding police officers at approximately 10:28 AM.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has since confirmed Hale drove a Honda Fit to the private Christian school before carrying out the shooting on Monday morning, and information found inside the vehicle – including a manifesto – helped the department identify Hale as the shooter.
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“MNPD detectives searched it and found additional material written by Hale,” the authorities said in a statement after the shooting.
“We have a manifesto, we have some writings that we're going over that pertain to this day,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake explained. “We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.”
“There's right now a theory that we may put out later but it's not confirmed,” Chief Drake added. “We'll put that out as soon as we can.”