As RedState's Bonchie reported Monday, at least part of the manifesto of transgender Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale was leaked to talk show host Steven Crowder, and the writings revealed a disturbed person who wanted to punish students at the school as well as privileged white people.
Hale killed six people, including three children, in a March shooting spree at a Nashville Christian school before she was taken out by quick-acting police officers.
The leak also enraged Nashville Democrat Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who demanded an investigation. After months of deflecting on the issue, officials had refused to release the writings and have never given a satisfactory explanation.
According to a report, revenge came swiftly, and the Nashville P.D. on Wednesday suspended seven detectives:
The officers were placed on administrative duty Wednesday as the agency attempts to pinpoint exactly how conservative commentator Steven Crowder obtained the explosive documents, according to NBC’s Nashville affiliate.
Department spokesperson Don Aaron told the station “seven individuals are on administrative assignment to protect the integrity of the active, progressing investigation.”
Aaron stressed the move was “absolutely not punitive” and said the suspended detectives would not be named at this time. [Emphasis mine.]
Authorities lose their credibility with statements like this. "Absolutely not punitive," how absurd. A suspension is obviously meted out as punishment; I was once suspended from school (a minor infraction, I swear), and I can tell you it wasn't because they were pleased with me.
Crowder's only explanation regarding the leak is that an unidentified person contacted his website’s investigative unit claiming to have the manifesto. He's unlikely to say more because he wouldn't want to burn his confidential source.
Many called for the manifesto to be buried forever:
While media and some law enforcement groups have argued the writings should be in the public domain, the Covenant School and several victims’ family members have opposed their release.
“I am deeply concerned with the safety, security, and well-being of the Covenant families and all Nashvillians who are grieving,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in a statement after Crowder unveiled Hale’s materials.
A group of parents whose children were present during the massacre also denounced the leak through a spokesman.
“You have now allowed [the shooter], who terrorized our family with bullets, to be able to now terrorize us with words from the grave,” said Brent Leatherwood, a Covenant parent.
Many others argued that it should be released in the name of public interest and that it was being hidden for political reasons. RedState's Bonchie:
Given that manifestos are very often released in other cases, specifically when the shooters fit a certain profile, why only in this case are things expected to be different? One would be forgiven for suspecting that politics is playing a role in this case.
Our Jeff Charles agreed, writing back in July, "It's time to release the Nashville shooter's manifesto already."
Although this leak sheds some light on the killer's hatred toward white people—especially those she considered "privileged"—and Christianity, it is likely not all the material that exists. Nashville police indicated early on that Hale had produced at least 20 journals and even a "memoir."
Whether the Nashville authorities are hiding more information and whether they're doing it for political reasons ("doesn't fit the narrative") remains to be seen, but revenge has been quickly served to these seven officers for (potentially) daring to defy the powers that be.