EXCLUSIVE: Tennessee's Covenant School Trans-identified Killer's Manifesto Confirms She Bought Guns with Federal Financial Aid
Audrey Hale went on a shooting rampage inside a Nashville school in 2023.
Dec. 30 2025, Published 1:45 p.m. ET
The transitioning woman in Nashville, Tennessee, who shot and killed three children and three adults at a religious private school two years ago used money provided by federal grants to buy the guns she used in her deadly massacre, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Audrey Hale detailed her graphic plans in a 230-page manifesto, which Radar has obtained.
Leaving Behind a Trail of Terror
Audrey Hale killed three kids and three adults at a religious private school.
Hale entered the private Covenant School shortly after 10 a.m. on March 27, 2023. The 28-year-old was armed with three loaded firearms and immediately opened fire, gunning down six people in less than 15 minutes, before cops were able to shoot and kill her.
It is the deadliest school shooting in Tennessee history, and Radar has learned it was all funded by government money.
Mixed in among the early pages of her "planning journal," Hale shared a detailed list of her personal savings account, including $3,186.78 in checks from the Nossi College of Art and Design in Nashville.
Those checks were apparently scholarships awarded to Hale through the federal government's Pell Grant program, given to undergraduate students who "display exceptional financial need."
This corroborates statements Hale's mother previously told investigators. When officials asked her how her daughter was able to afford the weapons used in her deadly rampage, the mom stated, "It was the grant money."
Planning for Weeks
Detailed records she kept revealed she used federal money to buy her guns.
Hale apparently planned for the attack for weeks, detailing in her death journal her research on different types of guns, how to use them, and formulating notes from other devastating school shootings.
Texts and messages she sent to friends reveal that she planned to die, but did not disclose she was about to unleash a heinous attack on innocent school children and staff.
Shortly before she shot through the school's glass windows and was seen in security camera footage maneuvering through the Pre-K to sixth-grade facility's hallways, Hale sent several direct messages to Averianna Patton on Instagram.
In the first message, Hale confessed that she was going to die that day.
"So basically that post I made on here about you, that was basically a suicide note," Hale wrote in the message. "I'm planning to die today."
Audrey Hale's Last Goodbye
Hale was shot and killed by responding officers.
Hale frantically followed up the shocking message with another one, stressing the reality of her words. "THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!!" the suspect followed up with a second message.
Both messages had gone unanswered, but Hale continued, warning that Patton would "probably hear about me on the news after I die."
Hale then sent another message as her "last goodbye."
Audrey Hale's Search for Fame
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Her rampage lasted 14 minutes.
After a lengthy investigation, Nashville police earlier this year concluded Hale, who attended Covenant between 2001 and 2005, first formulated her slaughter simply for fame.
"Hale longed for her name and actions to be remembered long after she was dead," the report said. "Even though numerous disappointments in relationships, career aspirations, and independence fueled her depression, and even though this depression made her highly suicidal."
Nashville police said Hale's personal writings and videos indicated the troubled person "expected there would be books and documentaries dedicated" to her.
A previous psychological assessment found Hale suffered from "major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobias, anger-management issues, and was underdeveloped both emotionally and socially."
She put her horrific plan in place as early as the summer of 2018, according to the official report.
"After writing an expletive rant directed towards her 'best friend' for choosing a relationship with a man over her, Hale decided it was time to make others notice her for a change," the report said. "She felt by 'killing a bunch of children' she would no longer be ignored."
