The former basketball teammate of the Covenant School shooter contacted police after receiving messages warning that the shooter “planned to die” and that it would be on the news.
Hale had sent a former basketball teammate a message on Instagram just minutes before the deadly shooting at the Pre-K to Sixth Grade Christian school.
Hale, a former student at Covenant school, said that she was “planning to die today” and “you’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.” She then entered the school and committed violent acts on innocents because she apparently wanted the police to take her life.
This was a “suicide by cop” situation.
Hale had recently begun identifying as transgender and had changed her name to “Aiden” on the social media platform, but her friend, Averianna Patton, referred to her as “Audrey” in the message exchange.
At 9:57 a.m., a former middle school basketball teammate of Audrey Hale looked at her phone to find a message from The Covenant School shooter on Instagram.
Averianna Patton said she saw the message that Hale planned to die by suicide and that Patton would see it on the news. In the messages Patton provided to NewsChannel 5, Hale told Patton she would see her again in another life. Hale told Patton about no longer wanting to live and the need to die.
NEW: Audrey Hale reached out to Averianna Patton, a former basketball teammate moments before committing the mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville. https://t.co/xEji0aPmDD pic.twitter.com/auMA60CdDU
— FoxNashville (@FOXNashville) March 28, 2023
“I tried to comfort and encourage her and subsequently reached out to the Suicide Prevention Help Line after being instructed to by my father at 10:08 am. Audrey has shared with others that she had been suicidal in the past and I knew to take this serious,” Patton said to NewsChannel 5.
Patton said she called the Nashville Davidson County Sheriff’s Office at 10:13 a.m. to make them aware of the situation and was instructed to call Nashville’s non-emergency number.
“I called Nashville’s non-emergency line at 10:14 a.m. and was on hold for nearly seven minutes before speaking with someone who said that they would send an officer to my home. An officer did not come to my home until 3:29 p.m.,” Patton said.
Source: News 5 Nashville
Patton said that she came forward because she thought that more urgency should have been given to her call to the authorities.
Fair enough, but perhaps the issue was that the MNPD had received a phone call at around the same time about the shooting itself.
“After phone calls from friends and Audrey’s name was released as the shooter at Covenant Nashville school, I learned that Audrey was the shooter and that she had reached out to me prior to the shooting,” Patton told News 5. “My heart is with all of the families affected and I’m devastated by what has happened.”
In addition to the recent transgender identity, Hale was reportedly on the Autism spectrum and was being treated for an “emotional disorder.” It has not been reported that she was on any medication to treat these issues, or if she was taking testosterone, which some female detransitioners have warned causes aggression that is difficult to control. Hale also had a detailed manifesto that would likely clarify what her motive was in attacking innocent Christian children and teachers, but that has not been released.
Source:
West, Emily; and Gibbs, Kelsey. “She checked her Instagram. She didn’t expect a message from The Covenant School shooter.” News 5 Nashville. https://archive.ph/v2mde#selection-1229.0-1254.3
