According to authorities, the shooter who attacked The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 27, 2023, was motivated by “notoriety.”
The shooting resulted in six deaths, three of which were of 9-year-old third graders.
The Homicide Unit of the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) provided a 48-page report detailing a two-year investigation of the 28-year-old The Covenant School shooter. The shooter attended the school from 2001-2005.
The shooter claimed the lives of Evelyn Dieckhaus (9), William Kinney (9), Hallie Scruggs (9), custodian Mike Hill (61), Executive Principal Katherine Koonce (60), and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak (61) before being shot and killed inside the school by officers.
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The shooter’s motives have been the subject of considerable speculation, with several pundits, politicians, and social media influencers suggesting that the shooter’s desire to transition genders from female to male was a factor.
“At the time of her death, [the shooter] was unmarried,” the case summary stated. “After interviewing her family members and those friends detectives could identify, they all described her as shy and introverted. [The shooter] openly identified as lesbian but wasn’t in a relationship.”
Investigators continued, “She also made statements about wanting to transition genders. She…used male pronouns on her social media and networking accounts.” However, the summary explained that “nothing has been found to suggest she initiated or was undergoing a transition at the time of her death, including medical documentation. During her autopsy following her death, it was determined she was biologically female.”
The report noted that Tennessee law states “a person’s gender identity must correspond with their biological sex or with information present on their certificate of live birth.” Thus the report refers to the shooter as female.
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The summary showed that the shooter entered the building with multiple firearms and had more than 270 rounds of ammo at her disposal after being neutralized.
“[The shooter] fired a total of 152 bullets during the attack (126 from her AR pistol, 25 from her carbine, and one from her pistol),” investigators determined. She “still had 272 live cartridges on her person (199 live 5.56mm caliber cartridges and 73 live 9mm caliber cartridges), most of which were loaded into magazines.”
