A Tennessee congressman looked for the first time documents related to the 2023 covenant shooting, praising the FBI led by director Kash Patel for upholding the Trump administration’s “radical transparency” commitment.
Rep. John Rose told Fox News Digital that he had full access to the documents, including the work of the suspect Audrey Hale, a transgender woman who was a former student and killed three children and three adults on March 27 of that year.
Republican lawmakers said he sent a letter to the FBI a month after the shooting and received a response in November telling him to effectively search for what he was looking for from the Nashville Police Department.
In stark contrast, Patel's FBI's quick turnaround when accessing files.
Covenant School Transgender Shooter Draws Nashville Attack for Years, Keeps Notebooks and Plans: Final Report
Rep. John Rose said he had full access to documents about the 2023 Covenant shooting. (Getty)
"They are mainly composed of the works and work of the perpetrators of the Covenant shootings. But they do provide a lot of insight, and I think confirms some of the doubts I've been doing."
"We really never received a response (about file query) (MNPD) in one way or another... we received a letter that really wasn't responding, basically indicating that they wouldn't post information to us. So, over the course of 40 days, the new FBI director Kash Patel gave us this information in the new 40 days, which could provide us with this information."
Many documents have been sealed and are the subject of legal battles in the volunteer state.
Nashville Principal Court Prime Minister i'ashea Myles ruled in 2024 that many of Hale's works are protected by copyright laws, which outperforms the state's record regulations.
A MNPD official told Fox News Digital that the court is also concerned that law enforcement agencies can inspire violence that imitates cats.
"This investigation is meticulous and continues this year, and at the end of the investigation we released a 48-page summary," the official told Fox News digital numbers on Thursday.
"So far, the order has limited the writing of shooters and cannot be published publicly through a 48-page summary (but), we hope everyone knows what we found in the mass shooting case; the days after our officers responded to the building so bravely to stop the threat."
Nashville School Shooting Manifesto: Why Killer Writes Motive
MNPD said they knew the FBI was considering publishing some material related to duplication and imitation related issues, and the bureau understood the retention and grouping of these retentions and Ross witnessed parts.
But Ross said he was "more than ever to feel at ease" after Patel allowed him to view the documents and that information inside should be made public so that people can better understand the tragedy.
He said completely frankly to the MNPD: "I think they're just stuck … It's frankly impossible for policy makers to take any action on the events that happened in March 2023, which is impossible."
"We simply cannot expect action when we don't understand the nature of this crime. Therefore, the public has the right to that information, but as policymakers, I feel we cannot expect us to develop policies based on Innuendo and assumptions when information is available."
Read Nashville The police report is here.
“If this is other major crimes of this nature, including mass shootings, we know from historic precedents that almost all of this information will release public inspections and considerations in normal courses.”
As for sensitivity, he said there was “hard information” in what he saw and he expressed sympathy for the victims of the shooting, but to protect society, current information should be accessed to better understand the perpetrators, etc.
The MNPD denied any stone wall allegations and cited the Chancery Court order in its response.
However, Ross does support some modifications, which suggests that a careful review process can allow the shooter and documents about the shooter to be used to understand “heerful crime,” identify others who may be responsible and examine how society misses any opportunity to stop it.
Click here to get the Fox News app
Nashville police also released a final report on the shooting, which was then reported by Fox News’ digital numbers.
Instead of a much-anticipated manifesto, the report found that Hale left behind numerous notebooks, art books and computer files about the planned attacks and infamous plans, inspired in part by the 1999 Columbine School shooting.
Michael Ruiz and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten of Fox News Digital contribute to this report.