Republican Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is calling for the FBI and DHS to launch a federal hate crime investigation into deceased transgender man Audrey Hale, who police identified as the individual behind the tragic school shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday that saw six people, including students and faculty, lose their lives.
Hawley penned a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, urging the officials to explore reports that Hale deliberately targeted Christians, as well as the alleged killer’s “manifesto.”
“Yesterday the nation witnessed the vicious murder of small schoolchildren in Nashville, Tennessee,” Hawley began. “An individual identified by police as Audrey Hale killed six people–students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, and employees Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce, and Michael Hill–in a murderous rampage at a Christian school known as The Covenant School.”
“It is commonplace to call such horrors ‘senseless violence.’ But properly speaking, that is false. Police report that the attack here was ‘targeted’–targeted, that is, against Christians.”
I am calling on FBI Director Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to open a federal hate crime investigation into the massacre in Nashville – targeting a Christian school 👇 pic.twitter.com/IvzrJUY2ZH
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 28, 2023
Hawley emphasised the language of the federal statute which states that a federal hate crime is classified as an act violence against people based on religion, race, color, or national origin.
“Hale’s attack was both premeditated and ‘targeted’ against this Christian school, its students and employees,” Hawley wrote.
“Nashville Police Chief John Drake announced yesterday that ‘we have a manifesto, we have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident,'” he added, quoting local law enforcement. “‘We have a map drawn out of how this was all going to take place.'”
“Moreover,” the Missouri GOP senator continued, “police detectives believe that Hale had ‘some resentment for having to go to that school.'”
Hawley said he wants federal investigators to determine “how this crime occurred, and who may have influenced the deranged shooter to carry out these horrific crimes.” He added, “Hate that leads to violence must be condemned. And hate crimes must be prosecuted.”
Nashville police chief confirms Audrey Hale identifies as transgender, suggests her trans identify played a role: "We have a manifesto … and a map of how all of this was going to play out." pic.twitter.com/75KL1yXCCq
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2023
Hawley’s comments come after Audrey “Aiden” Hale, who identified as a transgender male, was named as the individual who shot and killed at least six students and staff at the Covenant Christian school on Monday, Valiant News reported.
Mainstream media now reports that Hale was a Nashville resident who reportedly used to attend the grade school at the Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Scattered reports have claimed Hale’s manifesto revealed political motivations for the shooting, but these reports remain unconfirmed.
🚨 #BREAKING: NBC News is reporting the Nashville school shooter has been identified as Audrey Hale, a biological female that identifies as he/him.
Audrey previously attended the school. pic.twitter.com/1Np2obg2zs
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 27, 2023
Meanwhile, Republicans have been quick to remind the public that Tucker Carlson warned that extreme transgender politics may be dangerous just last Thursday.
Week old video of Fox News host Tucker Carlson, predicting forthcoming transgender “political violence,” has since gone viral in the wake of the Nashville Christian slaying.
“The trans community, of course, is a vehicle for something else and it’s always the same thing, which is political power and political power made possible by political violence,” Carlson said. “They want to be able to commit it and they want you defenseless so you can’t fight back.”
Almost prophetically, just last week, Tucker Carlson covered NPR's fawning coverage of armed Trans groups like "Rainbow Reload":
"We’re as for guns as you could possibly be, but this seems like an incitement" pic.twitter.com/0DIx7PUrkG
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 27, 2023
