A newly released final report on the Covenant School tragedy in Nashville confirms that the shooter, identified as a transgender former student, had meticulously planned the deadly attack for years and documented those preparations in handwritten journals.
The report, compiled by law enforcement and mental health experts, concludes that the individual behind the March 2023 shooting carried out the assault after years of internal turmoil, isolation, and obsessive planning. Authorities recovered numerous notebooks, diagrams, and digital files that outlined the assailant’s fixation with mass violence and specific details about the school layout, student schedules, and security protocols.
According to the findings, the shooter began developing the plan as early as 2021, compiling information on the school’s daily operations and analyzing possible points of entry. The journals, filled with disturbing entries, included countdowns to the attack and reflections on personal struggles, as well as references to other mass shooters.
Investigators determined that the individual acted alone and had no ties to outside extremist groups. The materials left behind indicated a desire for notoriety and a deep resentment toward the school, where the shooter had previously attended classes as a child.
The final timeline detailed in the report shows that the attacker entered the school with two rifles and a handgun, firing dozens of rounds before being confronted and fatally shot by responding officers within minutes. The swift police response was credited with preventing further loss of life, although six victims—three students and three staff members—were killed during the rampage.
The report also included insights from behavioral analysts who reviewed the shooter’s writings. They emphasized recurring themes of rejection, identity conflict, and obsession with previous mass shootings. Officials said the attacker’s mental health had deteriorated in the months leading up to the incident, but no formal diagnosis or intervention occurred.
In the wake of the report’s release, state and local officials reiterated their commitment to improving school safety and mental health awareness. Families of the victims have called for increased transparency and preventative measures to ensure similar tragedies do not occur.
Lawmakers in Tennessee continue to debate proposals related to school security, gun control, and mental health treatment, while the community honors the lives lost and seeks healing from one of the state’s most devastating acts of violence.