What we know about the Nashville shooter Audrey Hale | CNN

CNN
 — 

Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old former Covenant School student who killed six people at the school Monday, carefully planned the attack, according to officials.

Hale’s parents, who lived with the shooter, said Hale was under a doctor’s care for an “emotional disorder,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at a news conference Tuesday.

The shooter had various writings and maps of the school, as well as drawings of how to enter, Drake said.

Police know that Hale left home Monday morning with a red bag and that Hale’s mother did not know weapons were inside, Drake said.

Authorities continue to work to answer questions about who Hale was and the motive behind the school shooting. While the shooter’s gender identity is unclear, police told CNN Hale was assigned female at birth and that Hale used “male pronouns” on social media.

Less than 20 minutes before the shooting, Hale sent an eerie Instagram message to Averianna Patton, a former basketball teammate who told CNN’s Don Lemon she’s “still trying to process it all.”

“I knew her well when we were kids,” Patton told Lemon on CNN This Morning Tuesday. Patton, now a Nashville radio host, said she hasn’t had a relationship with the suspect since they were children and has only ever referred to Hale as Audrey or “she.”

“I didn’t know the adult … I don’t know that side of her,” Patton told Lemon when asked about the suspect.

Patton said she received the Instagram message at 9:57 a.m., which read, “One day this will make more sense. I’ve left more than enough evidence behind. But something bad is about to happen,” according to screen grabs sent to CNN affiliate WTVF.

Patton said she was not sure why Hale reached out. “I’m asking God the same question,” Patton told Lemon.