The Christian Post's top 10 news stories of 2023 (part 2)
3. Covenant School shooting
The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, became the site of a devastating tragedy earlier this year when a trans-identified shooter opened fire in the school, killing six people, including three children.
In March, 28-year-old Audrey Hale opened fire at The Covenant School, a Christian school affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA), killing Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old, as well as Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61. Hale was shot and killed by police just minutes after launching her attack.
Hale, a former student at the school, sought to kill “cr*ckers” with “white privileges,” according to leaked pages of her manifesto that documented the plans to commit mass murder.
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“I hope I have a high death count … God let my wrath take over my anxiety,” Hale wrote, according to leaked pages published by Steven Crowder, host of “Louder with Crowder,” in November.
According to officials, Hale was being treated for an unspecified emotional disorder and planned the attack for months in advance and studied other mass murderers. Hale, who was heavily armed, had two “assault-type rifles and a handgun” and was killed by police on the school’s second floor, authorities said.
“In the collective writings by Hale found in her vehicle in the school parking lot, and others later found in the bedroom of her home, she documented, in journals, her planning over a period of months to commit mass murder at The Covenant School,” they said in April.
Hale’s writings had been the subject of intense debate; Nashville police said they would release the writings, but not until they close the investigation.
Meanwhile, multiple groups had sued for access, including a state senator, The Tennessean newspaper and a gun-rights organization, according to the AP. Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also called for its release, and the National Police Association filed Freedom of Information Act requests to try and get the manifesto released but were denied by a judge.
Despite exhaustive efforts, the police stated in December that they had “exhausted all available investigative avenues” in tracing the source of the leak.
The Covenant School shooting had a profound impact on the Nashville community and beyond, with many, including Samaritan’s Purse CEO Franklin Graham, expressing their horror at the event.
Chad Scruggs, the senior pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church, lost his youngest child and only daughter, Hallie, in the shooting. In a May sermon, Scruggs said his family is often asked how they are doing, but “we just don’t know how to answer it yet.”
“We're doing not well; kind of searching for a new baseline in life right now,” he said.
The pastor said he is finding comfort in C.S Lewis’ book A Grief Observed.
“Lewis talked about that loss like an amputation, which has been helpful for me for this reason. How are you doing? Well, we’re learning to live with a part of us missing,” Scruggs said.
“Like losing an arm, perhaps, knowing that the phantom pain of that lost arm will always be there with us, just know that from our perspective now it feels impossible to ever pretend the arm will regenerate or that it will ever feel whole this side of Heaven. So I’d say we’re learning to live with sadness. And I will tell you that that’s OK. You can do that. Learning to live with sadness.”
The school itself announced plans to return to its Burton Hills location in April 2024.
“It is important to know that this decision has not been made lightly but has been made on the bent knees of the Leadership Team before the Lord. It is one that has been agonized over, debated over, and prayed over,” Interim Head of School Trudy Waters wrote in a December letter to parents.
“May we continue to rest in the promises the Lord reveals through this Advent season.”
Leah Klett contributed to this report.
