Why the Covenant School Shooter’s Writings Have Not Yet Been Released

A Nashville judge indicated on Monday that she would soon rule on whether the writings left by the Nashville school shooter could be made public.

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A memorial for the victims of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, in March 2023.

A Nashville judge said on Monday that she would soon rule on whether writings left by the assailant who killed six people at a private Christian school last year could be released.

The judge, Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles of the Chancery Court in Davidson County, has been asked to weigh demands to release the writings as vital public records against the wishes of families at the school, who say they want to protect their children from further trauma.

Here’s what to know about the case.

What do we know about the writings under dispute?

The assailant who killed three third-grade students and three staff members at the Covenant School in March 2023 left behind more than a dozen folders and journals in a car and at home, according to a search warrant.

Together, they amount to hundreds of handwritten pages, officials said, some of which reflect a hateful plan to target the school. But beyond saying publicly that the shooter “considered the actions of other mass murderers” and was under treatment for an emotional disorder, the police have yet to outline a motive for what was Tennessee’s deadliest school shooting.

The records are currently with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, which denied all requests to release them while investigating the attack. In response, journalists, gun-rights groups, and a Republican state senator sued for their release last year.

Excerpts and details from the writings have twice been leaked and published, including this month by The Tennessee Star, a conservative news outlet that is also suing for the full release of the records. City and police officials have said that the leaked material is only a fraction of the writings left behind.

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