Nashville School Shooter Messaged Friend Minutes Before Massacre

The suspected shooter who killed three children and three adults at a school in Nashville on Monday morning sent a series of dark messages to a friend in the minutes leading up to the attack, according to a report.

Police identified Audrey Hale, 28, as the person responsible for the bloodshed at the Covenant School. In a statement, authorities said the first 911 call about shots being fired at the private Christian school was made at 10:13 a.m.

Just minutes earlier, a former middle school basketball teammate of Hale’s told WTVF she received an Instagram message from the alleged killer. “I’m planning to die today,” the message sent to Averianna Patton read. “THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!!”

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Hale followed up by telling Patton that: “You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die. This is my last goodbye. I love you. See you again in another life.” The first message, which was timestamped at 9:57 a.m., appears to have been sent around 16 minutes before the first 911 call was made.

Hale signed off the message to Patton as “Audrey (Aiden).” Police initially described Hale as a teenager, then a 28-year-old woman, later adding that Hale was transgender. A source close to the Hale family told The Daily Beast that Hale had “relatively recently” started “identifying as he/him.”

Patton replied to the alarming message by saying that Hale had “so much more life to live.” “I know but I don’t want to live,” Hale replied. “I’m so sorry. I’m not trying to upset you or get attention. I just need to die.”