School yearbook photos have revealed transgender mass murderer Audrey Hale in her beaming teens alongside her basketball teammates as former players open up about her ‘obsessive and bully’ behaviour.
During her time at Isaiah T. Creswell High School in Nashville, the 28-year-old Hale was part of the highly successful Lady Comets hoops team. Hale’s trainer, Antoine Buchanan, said the tennessean that Hale was a “bench warmer” who would only play if the team “really won” or “really lost”.
In the wake of the Nashville mass murder this week, which left six people dead, including three nine-year-old boys, former teammates have now spoken out about the bizarre behavior of trans school shooter Audrey Hale.
Mia Phillips told The Tennessean that the killer was “shy” but that the team had become friends with her during their time playing together. After the couple went their separate ways to different high schools, Phillips said Hale persistently messaged her on social media and once found an email sent from an account she had just set up.
‘I’m trying to be as respectful and honest as possible. He felt obsessive. It felt like stalker behavior,” Phillips told the newspaper.
Hale, 28, played women’s basketball for Isaiah T. Creswell High School in Nashville.
Hale, pictured at the forefront of this team photo, was essentially a bench for the team, according to his coach.
“He would have played if we were really winning or losing,” his coach Antoine Buchanan told The Tennessean.
Investigators have not disclosed what motivated Hale to kill students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9, as well as Katherine Koonce, 60, the school’s principal; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old trustee
Investigators have not disclosed what motivated Hale to kill students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9, as well as Katherine Koonce, 60, the school’s principal; substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; and Mike Hill, a 61-year-old custodian at the Covenant School in Nashville on Monday.
In his interview with the tennessean, Mia Phillips described an incident from February 2022 when Hale pretended to be drunk at a party despite not having had anything to drink.
Everyone was confused. He was just rubbing us in a weird way, like giving us a really negative feeling. It didn’t feel good,’ she said.
After Phillips left the party, Hale coherently texted him asking him to come back.
Following the death of one of her teammates, 22-year-old Sidney Sims, in August 2022 following a car accident, Phillips said Hale followed her to her car to continue hanging out.
“I was expressing to him that this was not the time or the place, that we were all grieving,” Phillips told the newspaper.
Another former teammate of Hale and Patton called 911 the day of the tragedy after receiving disturbing Instagram messages from the killer.
Averianna Patton said she knew Hale had committed suicide in the past
She shot and killed three students, 9, and three staff members at 10:10 a.m. and sent the messages to Patton at 9:57 a.m.
After receiving a particular message from Hale that read, “I’m planning to die today, you’ll probably hear about me on the news,” Patton called a suicide hotline, which then encouraged her to contact authorities to alert them to the situation. . .
In his 911 call around 10:12 a.m., when armed officers had already arrived on the scene, he said, “I’m just trying to see if anyone can help.” I just don’t want it on my conscience.
If anyone can go see her, all I have is her Instagram. Can I give you her Instagram so they can find or track her that way?
Hale’s former basketball teammate was told there was nothing officers could do to help without direction from the shooter.
But the Nashville Metropolitan Police have confirmed to Fox17 that at the time of the call, police were already arriving at the private Christian school to tackle the shooter.
Hale, who passed by Audrey and Aiden, had already shot and killed six people by the time the police arrived.
At 9:57 a.m., 16 minutes before cops were first notified of the shooting, Audrey wrote: “Basically, that post I made on here about you, it was basically a suicide note.”
‘I’m planning to die today. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!! You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.
‘This is my last goodbye. I love you. ‘See you in another life. Audrey (Aiden).’
Police have said Hale was under a doctor’s care for an undisclosed “emotional disturbance.”
However, authorities have not disclosed a link between that attention and the shooting. Police also said Hale was not on his radar before the attack.
Social media accounts and other sources indicate the shooter identified himself as male and may have recently started using the given name Aiden.
Police have said Hale “was assigned female at birth” but used masculine pronouns in a social media profile. However, police have continued to use female pronouns and the name Audrey to describe Hale.
The 911 calls issued by officials surrounding the shooting include the voices of teachers and school officials, some whispering as they hid in classrooms, closets, bathrooms and offices as alarms blared loudly. A teacher tells an operator that she is with 17 children in a classroom and she hears ‘so many shots’.
On another call, Tom Pulliam, a 76-year-old retired church member, tells the dispatcher that he is with a group, including several children, walking away from the Christian school.
Although Pulliam remains calm, the tension and confusion of the situation is clear, with several adults talking over each other and children’s voices in the background.
When the dispatcher requests a description of the shooter, Pulliam asks a second man to come on the line.
“All I saw was a man holding an assault rifle shooting through the door. It was… it’s currently in the second grade hallway, upstairs,’ the man says, noting that the assailant was dressed in camouflage.
When asked how many shots were fired, a woman replies: “I heard about 10 and I left the building.”
Pulliam, who was driving with his wife near the church when the attack occurred, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he is struggling to understand it. He said that he mainly remembers the children and how calm they seemed, not “screaming and yelling or anything.”
“Up there for a normal school day, these little kids,” he said. ‘Now, there are hard days to go through.’
In another call that began just before 10:13 a.m., a woman tells a dispatcher she can hear a pause in gunfire from her hiding place in an art room closet.
When asked if it’s a safe place, the woman replies, “I think so,” while children can be heard in the background.
The teacher then says that she can hear more gunshots and begs the dispatcher, ‘Please hurry up.’
On another call, senior pastor Chad Scruggs, whose daughter was killed in the attack, identifies himself and tells the operator that he is outside the building and heading toward the shooting.
“I get calls from inside,” he says.
A woman, who hid under a desk at a day care center, tells a dispatcher that the school, which is attached to the Covenant Presbyterian Church, sometimes has some staff members who carry firearms, but no security guards. dedicated security.
“We have a person from the school, or two, I’m not sure, who would be packing, whose job is security,” she says. ‘We don’t have security guards, but we do have staff.’