Only 14 minutes passed between the alarm being raised for an active shooter targeting The Covenant elementary school in Nashville, Tenn. and the assailant being killed in a hail of bullets by two police officers.
But in that time Audrey Hale — a 28-year-old transgender former student of the private Christian school – unleashed complete chaos, leaving three 9-year-old students and three employees dead.
Twisted Hale, who had started using he/him pronouns in online profiles, had sat in her car in the parking lot of the school and sent messages about the act she was about to commit to a friend.
“I’m planning to die today … You’ll probably hear about me on the news,” Hale wrote to a former classmate.
Authorities have revealed the attack was pre-planned and targeted, and Hale had a further cache of weapons hidden throughout the brick-faced home she shared with her parents.
Hale’s parents had thought she sold the legally-bought firearms after they expressed their disapproval, police said, but instead, she used two assault rifles and a handgun to carry out her heinous suicide mission.
This is how it unfolded:
Hale’s gray-colored Honda Fit is seen pulling into the parking lot of the Covenant School and church grounds, and past at least one person standing on the sidewalk, according to footage released by the Metro-Nashville Police Department.
She drove through the parking lot before apparently parking the vehicle.
Hale’s parents later told police they saw her leaving their shared home with an unusual “red bag,” officials revealed.
Hale sends a series of Instagram messages to her former classmate, Averianna Patton, in which she writes, “So basically that post I made on here about you, that was basically a suicide note.”
“I’m planning to die today,” Hale adds, in the messages, Patton later shared with NewsChannel5.
“THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!! …“You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die,” Hale adds.
“This is my last goodbye. I love you … See you again in another life.”
She signs the missive “Audrey (Aiden).”
Patton told local media she contacted law enforcement, who instructed her to call the non-emergency line.
Hale is seen blasting into the locked side door of the school, shooting through its glass several times.
She then kicks away some shards and walks through the now-empty door frame.
Hale is seen entering the school hallway, with her hand grasping the barrel of a long-armed assault rifle.
She is wearing a backward red baseball cap, glasses, a white t-shirt, sneakers and camouflage pants.
She is also wearing gloves and what appears to be a vest.
Police received a call about “shots fired” at the school and immediately responded, though Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake could not say how quickly police arrived.
Officials later revealed she was armed with two assault-style rifles, a handgun and “significant ammunition.”
Video shows Hale, with gun pointed, calmly looking around the hallway as emergency lights flash.
She peers through the window of a door before opening it and walking out of the camera’s view.
But she reappears, seconds later with her gun pointed, before walking into a different room.
Hale is seen sauntering through a different hallway, past a sign that reads, “Children’s ministry.”
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Officers are greeted by gunfire as they arrive on the property, Drake tells reporters.
Time estimates are based on information police have previously provided.
Police body camera footage shows Officer Rex Engelbert pulling up to the entrance of the building and being met by a woman who tells him: “The kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.”
Engelbert prepares his rifle as he approaches the closed doors.
Engelbert uses a key to enter one of the closed doors, to the sound of an alarm blaring.
“Let’s go!” he yells, before adding moments later, “Metro Police!”
The bodycam footage shows him standing behind one officer as they stalk through the school hallways and classrooms amid the sounds of several alarms.
“We don’t know where he is,” one officer can be heard saying.
The faint sound of gunfire can be heard in the background.
Engelbert shouts, “It sounds like it’s upstairs” and police make their way up the stairs.
The sound of gunshots grows louder as they make their way around corners toward the end of a hallway.
Engelbert’s footage shows officers firing into a partially opened doorway.
They continue through a dimly lit hallway and past double doors amid the sound of rapid gunfire.
They push ahead into an open room, where they see the shooter.
Engelbert and Officer Michael Collazo engage Hale, which one shouting what sounds like, “Police.”
Shots ring out as the suspect can be seen in the distance falling to the floor.
“Clear,” one officer yells. “Move, move.”
A second officer fires additional shots as they move toward Hale.
He hand still appears to be moving as they get to the body.
After police fatally shoot Hale, her body can be seen in the footage lying motionless on the blue carpeted flooring.
Police later said Hale was being treated for an emotional disorder.