Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old alleged mass shooter at the Christian school in Nashville Monday, reportedly identified as transgender.
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department chief John Drake named Hale as the alleged assailant who killed three children and three adults at The Covenant School.
Police officers confronted and killed the shooter on the scene.
Drake said that Hale was a former student at the school.
When asked if she identified as transgender, the chief responded, “She does.”
Journalist Andy Ngo tweeted, “The shooting comes amid a surge in far-left death threats in Tennessee over the state banning the medical transitioning of minors. Hale’s art page featured LGBTQ+-themed work.”
Ngo added in another tweet, Hale identified as “he/him and uses the name ‘Aiden.'”
“The killings follow the state banning the medical transitioning of minors & adult cabaret (drag) performances in front of children,” Ngo wrote.
CBS News reported Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law on March 2 banning minors from transitioning with medical treatment and a separate law restricting drag shows from taking place in public or in front of children.
The MNPD tweeted Monday afternoon, “The 6 victims fatally shot by the active shooter at Covenant School are identified as: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, Cynthia Peak, age 61, Katherine Koonce, age 60, and Mike Hill, age 61.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.