According to an autopsy, Audrey Elizabeth Hale (28), a trans woman who was killed by the police in Nashville, Tennessee after she opened fire on a Christian private elementary school, had covered her clothing with handwritten messages prior to her fatal assault at the end of March.
Hale was officially listed as female in the report, which acknowledges her transgender identity. According to the autopsy, she was carrying a blade inscribed with Aiden, her chosen name.
Hale died of gunshot wounds, as expected. Months earlier, police had released a bodycam video showing responding officers taking down the shooter during the assault on the Covenant School. Hale also suffered bruises, abrasions, and “minor” blunt force trauma.
The report revealed new details, including that Hale was covered in notes, drawings, and numbers. The report noted that Hale was wearing a plastic anklet with the number “508407” engraved on it.
The writing on Hale’s clothes is not known, but the city is facing lawsuits for public records to release her manifesto and other written materials, found at the crime site and her parents’ house.
Police recovered notebooks, drawings, and two “memoirs”, as well as a map of Covenant School, which was hand-drawn by the killer.
Hale opened fire in that area on March 27, killing three adults and three children.
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said that Hale had an unspecified mental disorder. The controversial manifesto was shared with Quantico’s Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI.
All three victims were 9-year-olds: William Kinney, Evelyn Dieckhaus, and Hallie Scoggs. Katherine Koonce, 60, was the Head of the School, while Michael Hill, 61, and Cynthia Peak, 61, were both custodians.
A scar was also discovered on Hale’s forehead, but not on her wrists. The toxicology report showed that alcohol and drugs were not present.
Dr. Emily Dennison performed the autopsy on March 28, 2018.
Hale stood at 5’2″ and weighed about 120 pounds.
One bullet passed through both lungs and Hale’s spine, right to left, back to front, and slightly downward, passing through an arm on its way out, according to the report. A second bullet went through the shooter’s head, back to front, right to left, and upward. A third struck Hale in the femur, fragmented, and came out in two places, also traveling right to left.
