Trans school shooter Audrey Hale shared fantasies of killing family, children with therapist who failed to report ideation to law enforcement: report

According to 99.7 WTN’s Brian Wilson, “The ongoing [MNPD] investigation apparently focuses on the shooter’s therapist.” He added, “Metro Nashville Police Department is remaining silent on this, but sources familiar with the investigation confirm that the search warrants were run on the home and office of the therapist in an effort to obtain notes of the therapy sessions with the Covenant School Shooter. One source says detectives have evidence that the shooter told the therapist about fantasies that involved, among other things, killing her parents and carrying out a school shooting of some kind.”

Retired MNPD officer Garet Davidson told Wilson, “I know there has been a search warrant served. One of the practitioner’s offices, I think home as well, regarding some documentation.” Davidson added, “I’m a little skeptical that it’s [the MNPD investigation into the Covenant killing] active, open, and actually being worked. And I don’t know, if it was, why it hasn’t already been presented to DA Funk to go ahead and see about an indictment on that individual in question.”

A source gave the name of the psychologist to The Tennesse Star, but the outlet is withholding it for privacy reasons. However, the outlet confirmed that the psychologist in question was previously licensed in Tennessee from August 1986 until December 1, 2022, has a PhD from George Peabody College, which is part of Vanderbilt University, and had no history of disciplinary action or professional complaints during her almost 40 years in the field.

The Star reported that the psychologist is now claiming that she closed her practice on December 31, 2022, before Hale’s shooting at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. The outlet reported that a search warrant was served and executed on the psychologist’s Nashville office in July 2023 and that documents found during the search revealed that Hale told the psychologist during treatment that she fantasized about killing her family and committing a school shooting.

According to the outlet, the psychologist could face criminal charges or be subject to civil claims for violating Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 33-3-206, which makes any “mental health professional or behavior analyst” a mandatory reporter stating that a “service recipient has communicated to a mental health professional or behavior analyst an actual threat of bodily harm against a clearly identified victim” and “has determined or reasonably should have determined that the service recipient has the apparent ability to commit such an act and is likely to carry out the threat unless prevented from doing so,” the mental health provider “shall take reasonable care to predict, warn of, or take precautions to protect the identified victim from the service recipient’s violent behavior.”

In 2024, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation that was signed into law by Governor Lee which states that failure to comply might result in criminal, civil, or regulatory penalties under 33-3-206 (b), which states “A qualified mental health professional or behavior analyst who acts or makes a reasonable attempt to act in accordance with subsection (a) is not liable for damages in a civil action, subject to prosecution in a criminal proceeding, or subject to disciplinary action by a regulatory board for such act or reasonable attempt to act.”

Hale was a biological female who identified as a transgender male at the time of her attack, during which she allegedly killed three nine-year-olds and three faculty members. The Star’s owners, Star News Digital Media, Inc. are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit seeking the full release of the manifesto written by Hale.