Judicial Watch announced on Tuesday that in response to its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit it received another 485 pagesof the “manifesto” of the March 27, 2023, shooter, Audrey Hale (also known as Aiden Hale), who was the perpetrator of The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, TN.
The records detail the shooter’s violent thoughts, the targeting and planning of the shooting attack on The Covenant School, and transgender-related obsessions.
Police reported Hale, 28, broke into the elementary school in Nashville, TN, where she had been a student, and shot and killed three students and three adults. In March 2025, Metro Nashville Police Department published its investigative case summary.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released the pages in response to Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice(No. 1:23-cv-01483)). After multiple releases containing zero records, the FBI finally began producing pages, stating they were no longer subject to law enforcement proceedings. Many names and faces in the photos were redacted, as were entire pages.
“These are the writings of a deeply disturbed individual,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “However, there was no point in the Biden FBI hiding them. We appreciate the Trump administration’s transparency. This information may possibly help Americans avoid tragedies like this in the future.”
Judicial Watch previously obtained 112 pages of records in April 2025, and an additional 231 pages in June 2025—bringing the total number of pages released through this lawsuit to 828. The full “manifesto” consists of 2,056 pages, and the FBI is continuing to produce additional pages to Judicial Watch.
The lawsuit also seeks materials provided to the FBI by local law enforcement. The FBI is withholding these documents, claiming they are categorically exempt from disclosure under FOIA. Judicial Watch continues to press for their public release.
In a separate case, in May 2023, Judicial Watch filed an open records lawsuit on behalf of retired Hamilton County Sheriff James Hammond and the Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc. (“TFA”) (Hammond et al. v. Metropolitan Govt of Nashville et al. (No. 23-0538-III)). The court later consolidated Judicial Watch’s lawsuit with several others related to release of public records from The Covenant School shooting.
