A Tennessee county judge was poised to rule Wednesday on whether to allow the parents of this year’s Nashville school shooting to voice their opposition in court to releasing the shooter’s writings.
Three children and three adults were killed in the March 27 mass shooting at the Christian private Covenant School. The shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, died in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Davidson County Chancery Judge I’Ashea L. Myles has said she will issue a decision by the end of Wednesday on whether she’ll allow the parents to speak on why they don’t want the shooter’s journals made public.
“I think that is not something that we in Tennessee, and specifically in Nashville, have had to deal with,” Myles said in court Monday, referring to the mass shooting. “So, in a way, we are in unchartered territory. That moment is not lost on me.”
Attorney Eric Osborne, who represents 100 families affected by the shooting, told the judge that the parents want to express their fears that releasing the shooter’s writings would prompt copycat attacks and would add further pain to the children who survived the massacre.
Myles also heard from lawyers representing news organizations, a national police group and a firearms association, who are suing the Nashville Metropolitan Government to get the journals released. They’re hoping the shooter’s writings will shed light on a motive.
The Covenant School massacre was the 130th mass shooting in the U.S. this year according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines the crime as four or more victims killed or wounded. There have been at least 97 more mass shootings in the 58 days since the Nashville incident.
