Audrey Hale felt no hatred against anyone at the school where the former student gunned down six people. In fact, the 28-year-old relished fond memories of The Covenant School and wanted “to die somewhere that made her happy,” Nashville police said. “Hale bore no grudge against the school or staff” and considered them to be “‘innocents’ and victims on par with herself,” the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said. The revelation came in a trove of new details released in a report by Nashville police Wednesday – two years after Hale randomly slaughtered three teachers and three 9-year-old children at the private Christian school. Shortly after the massacre on March 27, 2023, Hale was gunned down by police – leaving myriad questions about the inexplicable killings that remained unanswered until now.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department released the final report on the Covenant School shooting Wednesday morning. The 48-page report covers a number of topics including motive, planning, and a detailed look at how the attack played out. On March 27, 2023, six people, including three children, were shot and killed at the Covenant School in Green Hills. The victims were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old; as well as Cynthia Peak, 61; Dr. Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61. The shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was shot and killed by Metro officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran. According to the report, the shooter sought notoriety and detectives worked to determine if Hale was sane. Metro police also determined Hale did not have any help with planning or on the day of the attack.

Hale, the 28-year-old attacker and biological female, began "fantasizing" about and researching mass shootings as far back as 2017, according to investigators. A year later, she wrote "detailed fantasies" about shooting up the Isaac T. Creswell Middle Magnet School for the Arts, killing her father and killing her psychiatrist. "In this case, a manifesto didn’t exist," the document reads. "Hale never left behind a single document explaining why she committed the attack, why she specifically targeted The Covenant, and what she hoped to gain, if anything, with the attack." Instead, her motivations were scattered across those many notebooks and other writings, investigators found. They included an image showing more than two-dozen notebooks seized from Hale's car and bedroom. They also said she left a suicide note addressed to her parents.