New FBI records reveal that Nashville shooter Audrey Hale used federal grant money to purchase firearms. The 100-page document details Hale’s plan for the attack and how it was funded using Pell Grant money.
According to public documents, Hale wrote about her financial records in her journal. The entries began with a balance of $2,050.86 and included detailed notes about firearms Hale planned to buy. She made notes dating back to 2021, indicating it was a well-thought-out plan.
She also wrote that she wanted to kill all the white kids in her diary entries. The 28-year-old wrote in 16 notebooks that contained racially hateful content, expressing a desire to “kill my own race” and “destroy all the white people who are teachers.” She wrote, “Being white sucks, but being black is so cool. Black people should rule. White people should fall, every white person, living or dead. I hate you all.”
Wow. Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the troon who gunned down six people in 2023 at the Covenant School in Nashville, used her Pell Grant money to purchase her weapons. pic.twitter.com/13dUGsaLfZ
— Jason Jones (@jonesville) December 29, 2025
She also detailed her outfit choices. She said she wore clothes meant to make her appear harmless to cover up her intentions over the years. Identifying as transgender, she said she hated being raised as a girl. She also expressed anger over not receiving puberty blockers.
Her notes also focused on various firearms she planned to obtain for the attack. One of her primary stated reasons for targeting the school was religion. It was a Christian school she previously attended. Hale killed six people in the Christian school shooting on March 27, 2023.
Three staff members and three students were killed in the shooting. She entered the school through a side entrance. Surveillance footage from the school that day shows her walking through the hallway with multiple guns.
Before the shooting, Hale also texted her friend that she was on a “suicide mission.” She told her friend that she would be on the news. She was attending the Nossi College of Art and Design in Nashville. Her unemployment status made her eligible for the grant.
The FBI on Monday released another 230 manifesto pages written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man on March 27, 2023, when the 28-year-old killed six at the Covenant School in Nashville, the Christian elem…https://t.co/iweHgI0a8f
— Tennessee Star (@TheTNStar) December 29, 2025
The details from the notes also verify Hale’s parents’ statement. They had told the investigators in 2023 that she used the grant money to procure the firearms. Moreover, she got the grant without their parental income coming into consideration since she was already over 25 years old. There were also hand-drawn maps and a manifesto in Hale’s vehicle, as per the Nashville Police Chief.
However, the full details of the manifesto have not been released to the public. As a result, there is a huge outrage, and people are posting their take on social media. One X user wrote, “Financial aid programs need safeguards to prevent misuse, especially when lives are at stake.” Another one commented, “This… is horrifying! Taxpayer money funding tragedy like this? Absolutely chilling.”
