Latest / 10 Minute Murder | Bingeable True Crime Stories / Nashville Covenant School Shooting
Transcript
- 0:10Arianna Patton got a notification on her phone at nineteen fifty seven am on a
- 0:14Monday morning, and what she saw prompted her to immediately notify authorities. Her
- 0:20former classmate Audrey at center and Instagram message indicating that she was at risk for
- 0:25suicide. On her father's advice, she called a suicide hotline, then informed
- 0:31the Sheriff's office. I was just like, like again, I was just
- 0:35like shock, And initially I was trying to come for her, but as
- 0:38soon as I got it, it was just like, this is strange.
- 0:42Let me send it to my daddy. I screenshot team. I was like,
- 0:44do I call somebody? He was like yes, And I was like,
- 0:47Okay, who do I call? Like how do I deal with something
- 0:49like this? Like so then he was like, called the suicide Prevention And
- 0:53then that's when I started that process of trying to reach out. I understand
- 0:57if I'm right, Arihanna. They told you call the local deputy. Ten
- 1:02thirteen am, you call the local Sheriff's office. They tell you to call
- 1:06the non emergency line, which you did immediately ten fourteen. One minute later,
- 1:10you call the Nashville non emergency line. They said they'd send someone over
- 1:15at three twenty nine, so obviously many hours later someone arrives at your home.
- 1:22Of course, the shooting was at ten thirteen. Yeah, you've done
- 1:25everything you could. I mean, have you spoken to investigators since? But
- 1:30what Avriana didn't know is at that exact same moment, Audrey was firing shots
- 1:34with their ar style rifle and unleashing a massive attack on the Covenant School in
- 1:40Nashville, Tennessee. We're coming on the air with breaking news. There has
- 1:42been a shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Officials from
- 1:49the hospital confirmed three children were pronounced dead after suffering gunshot wounds. Authorities say
- 1:55the gunman is also dead. We want to go to NBC. Aiden Hale
- 1:59was previously known as Audrey Elizabeth Hale. They were born on March twenty fourth,
- 2:02nineteen ninety five, in Nashville, Tennessee, to parents Ronald and Norma
- 2:07Hale. She was diagnosed as a high functioning autistic and was known to be
- 2:12a pleasant person to be around for the most part. The confusion around the
- 2:15name is because Aiden Hale was signed female at birth and later changed his pronouns
- 2:21to he him and identified as a transgender man, which is how I'll be
- 2:24referring to him for the remainder. According to teachers, Aiden was the most
- 2:30kind, whimsical person to have around. Abrianna Patton recalls playing basketball with Aiden
- 2:36at it Crestwell Middle School years ago. What was what was the shooter like
- 2:39at that time when you knew her? I mean she was very quiet,
- 2:45very you know, just shy. You know. With the team, we
- 2:50would like, you know, Lena, hey, we got your beck,
- 2:52you know, like we would joke and be like, don't nobody, but
- 2:54nobody value too hard. You know. We got to see her grow,
- 2:58you know, in her skill on the court. So you know, we
- 3:01did really good that year. You know, we went all the way to
- 3:04the city. So it was a really good year for this and like a
- 3:07real camaraderie. And when we hear the shooter's parents saying the shooter was under
- 3:12a doctor's care for an emotional disorder, again, police have told us very
- 3:15little except where they say that the shooter identified as transgender. Were you aware
- 3:21of any of this at any at any point? Or is that all more
- 3:24more recent than you would know? Yeah, this more more. I guess
- 3:29that will be more recent like I wasn't really tapped in like that. Aiden
- 3:32attended the Covenant School from kindergarten to sixth grade, later going on to a
- 3:38College of Art in Madison, Tennessee. Aiden also received an award for moost
- 3:43Improved in the year twenty fifteen, graduated in twenty twenty two. I was
- 3:47a promising up and coming artist. A teacher, Maria Calambi taught Aiden for
- 3:53two semesters in twenty seventeen, and she knew from day one, as Aiden
- 3:57handed in the assignments that he was a gift artist. As easy going as
- 4:00Aiden seemed to be, Miss Calambie also recalled an episode of a big outburst
- 4:05at such a simple problem as being unable to figure out his password, which
- 4:11was a shining example of their patients or lack thereof. His art was bright
- 4:15and different, with a childlike quality that so many found refreshing. His classmate
- 4:20Cody, said that the two were commercial illustration majors and that Aiden was exceptionally
- 4:27talented. He described Aiden with a childlike personality and that he always brought stuffed
- 4:31animals to class. One of his pieces of digital art was even captioned to
- 4:36be a child forever, indicating their fascination with sort of a Peter Pan kind
- 4:42of idea. At twenty eight years old, Aiden was a freelance graphic artist
- 4:46and liked to spend free time playing video games. According to Aiden's parents,
- 4:50they were only aware of him owning a handgun that he sold as his mother,
- 4:55Norma, was against guns and often spoke about how guns should be kept
- 4:59away from school. Aiden posted something on Instagram on March thirteenth, two twenty
- 5:03three, after the death of a former classmate, Sydney Simms. Aiden was
- 5:09reportedly infatuated with Simms and was deeply affected when she died in a car crash.
- 5:15On the morning of March twenty seventh, two twenty three, Aiden left
- 5:18home with the red bag. His parents had no knowledge of where he was
- 5:23headed. At nine to fifty seven am, he messaged Avriana Patton and explained
- 5:28the post was a suicide note and that he might be on the news.
- 5:31Worried, Patton called her father, the suicide hotline and the police, but
- 5:36any action being taken would come too late. She also attempted to call Aiden's
- 5:42phone, but there was no answer. At ten twelve am, Britney Grayson
- 5:46a pediatric surgeon, and her husband, Michael Wilfong, were just pulling out
- 5:50of the school's parking lot. They'd been there speaking about their mission trip to
- 5:54Kenya. They later expressed how much they wished they had stayed just a little
- 5:58bit longer because they could have provided medical aid to the victims of the shooting,
- 6:02but they didn't know what was coming. No one could have known what
- 6:05was coming. Exactly one minute later, at ten thirteen, am Aiden stormed
- 6:12the Covenant School through a side entrance, shooting a hole in the glass door
- 6:15to enter. Aiden shot and killed three nine year olds, the school custodian,
- 6:20the principal, and a substitute teacher who was only there for that day.
- 6:26Six lives were savagely taken. Before Aiden could be stopped. Officers were
- 6:30directed inside the building by a staff member who explained they were missing some children.
- 6:35After evacuating the building okay, the footage from the police body camp shows
- 6:44officers clearing the first floor as Aiden fires at more of them from a second
- 6:48story window of the school near a passage connecting the school to the church.
- 6:53Officers Ingle Burton Coloso arrived on the scene and without hesitation, with quick precise
- 6:59and practiced movement eliminated the threat. The shooter was finally dead, laying beside
- 7:04the window where moments before had been shooting at the police that were outside.
- 7:09The entire duration of the officer's arrival, determinating the active shooter situation took just
- 7:15under four minutes, which is commendably fast and immediate. The quick response and
- 7:19action most likely saved many other lives, but sadly, six lives were lost
- 7:25that day, including those three nine year old students. When police raided Aiden's
- 7:30home, they discovered nineteen journals, four hidden weapons that his parents had no
- 7:34knowledge of, including two shotguns. They found cell phones and laptops, as
- 7:40well as suicide notes, three folders that contained a manifesto of how the shooting
- 7:45was going to go down. Also included was a map of the school which
- 7:48pointed out entry points. Police have reason to believe that Aiden was going to
- 7:53target a shopping mall next and then possibly relatives. Football teams honored the slain
- 7:58members of the school by wearing the school decal on their helmets. The fire
- 8:01station that responded to the nine one one call closest to the school even had
- 8:05some handmade cards from The three students of the Covenant School who had previously visited
- 8:11the station killed that day were Evelyn dick House, Hailey Scruggs, and William
- 8:16Kinney, all nine years old. Cynthia Peak sixty one, a substitute teacher,
- 8:24Mike Hill sixty one, a custodian, and Katherine Koon's sixty who served
- 8:28as the head of the school. The journey that took Aiden Hale from the
- 8:33beginning to that day is a complex one, and we may never fully understand
- 8:37the motives behind their actions. However, it is essential to remember that mental
- 8:41health is a serious issue and we have to create a society that supports and
- 8:46cares for those struggling with mental illness. There is also an argument to be
- 8:50made that access to weapons by someone under a doctor's care for an emotional disorder
- 8:56shouldn't have been able to happen. Aiden Hale had seven legally purchased guns.
- 9:03People writing this off as some sort of transidentity crisis or a religious prejudice,
- 9:07I believe are missing the bigger picture. Did this happen because someone was mentally
- 9:13unwell? Yes? Does this highlight a blatant need for some sort of action
- 9:18on gun control in this country. Also, yes, look, I'm not
- 9:22smart enough to have all the answers, but I do know that if we
- 9:26do the same things we've always done, we're going to get the same things
- 9:31we've always gotten. I've heard arguments that talk about the need for teachers to
- 9:35be armed or for more school resource officers, making it look like the students
- 9:39are walking into a prison. Please understand that more guns is not the answer.
- 9:46We're a country with more guns than anyone in the world, so if
- 9:48more guns kept us safer, we'd be the safest place on the planet.
- 9:54The bottom line is our children should not be afraid that they're going to be
- 9:58murdered at school, but right now they are. I didn't intend to hop
- 10:01on a soapbox during this story, but I'm also not going to apologize for
- 10:05speaking my mind on this. You don't have to agree with everything I just
- 10:09said, but to be a decent human being, you do have to agree
- 10:13that enough is enough and something has to be done.