The Tennessee Star has obtained the FBI memo sent to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on May 11, 2023 from a source familiar with the Covenant killer investigation.
The letterhead and heading used for the memo indicate it originated at the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group in Quantico, Virginia. The opening paragraphs reveal it was sent by the FBI’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Center (BTAC), the home of the FBI’s Behavorial Analysis Unit (BAU-1). The memo was not signed.
The memo does not specifically mention Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who fatally shot three 9-year-old students and three faculty members in the devastating March 27, 2023 attack at the Covenant School in Nashville.
It was, however, sent two days after Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns The Tennessee Star, and the company’s CEO, Michael Patrick Leahy, filed a lawsuit against the FBI in federal court to compel the release of Hale’s written documents, including those sometimes called a manifesto, and one day after Star News Digital Media, Inc. and Leahy filed a lawsuit against Metro Nashville Davidson County Government in state court for the same purpose.
The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit has been involved in the MNPD’s investigation into the Covenant killings since the very first day, sources familiar with the investigation have told The Star. MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron confirmed the FBI’s involvement in the investigation to The Star when asked about the FBI memo on Tuesday, though he did not specify the date at which that involvement began.
“As has been publicly acknowledged, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit has assisted in this Homicide investigation,” Aaron told The Star.
“Any material related to that assistance that is part of the open case file is protected. As I referenced earlier today, our Homicide team is working to bring this matter to a conclusion,” Aaron added.
Addressed to Metro Police Chief John Drake, the memo “strongly discourages” MNPD from releasing “legacy tokens” left by a mass murderer.
The FBI memo explains those who commit mass shootings “often leave behind items to claim credit for the attack and / or articulate the motivation behind it.” The agency “refers to these items as legacy tokens.”
The term “legacy token” appears to be a creation of the FBI. A June 2018 FBI document studying pre-attack behaviors of active shooters defines “legacy tokens” as “a communication prepared by the offender to claim credit for the attack and articulate the motives underlying the shooting.”
Examples, according to the federal agency, “include manifestos, videos, social media postings, or other communications deliberately created by the shooter and delivered or staged for discovery by others, usually near in time to the shooting.”
The FBI, according to the memo, “strongly discourages public dissemination of any legacy tokens.”
Three criteria are offered by the FBI and BTAC for why MNPD and other agencies should not release such “legacy tokens” for public dissemination.
According to the FBI, merely releasing the documents contributes to “future attacks” because, “Future attackers will immerse themselves in and study these materials for inspiration and tactics.”
The first point listed in the memo further claims “[i]nfamy and notoriety are major motivators for many attackers,” and “dispersion of legacy tokens through the media will only further the infamous and notorious goals of the offender.”
In its second point, the FBI acknowledges the desire for public release of “legacy tokens” often “revolves around the public’s need to understand what led to such tragic events.” However, the FBI claims “legacy tokens” seldom provide such comfort, and instead could lead the public “to dismiss the attacker as mentally ill,” which would “further permeate the false narrative that the majority of attackers are mentally ill.”
The FBI, in its third point, claims that releasing “legacy tokens” will lead to the spread of “false narratives.”
“Public access to legacy tokens will also facilitate false narratives and inaccurate information,” the FBI claimed, asserting that releasing information written by mass shooters will result in “pontificators” and “self-professed ‘experts’” who “will proffer their perspectives” in the press, “potentially inflaming the public.”
Releasing “legacy tokens” could also result in “unintended consequences for the segment of the population more vulnerable or open to conspiracy theories, which will undoubtedly abound,” the FBI claimed.
The memo also raised the precedent for destroying “legacy tokens,” noting materials from the 1999 Columbine High School attack were never released and permanently destroyed.
The memo does not suggest destroying materials from an investigation, but it does inform Chief Drake, “There is existing precedent for not releasing legacy token materials to the public, most notably the decision to destroy the ‘Basement Tapes’ produced by the offenders of the Columbine High School attack.”
While the memo raised the precedent for destruction of “legacy tokens” after the Columbine attack, MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron told The Star on Tuesday that police have not destroyed any materials from the Covenant investigation.
Though the Columbine Tapes were never publicly released, redacted transcripts, excerpts and summaries of the contents of tapes are available online.
The FBI concluded their memo to MNPD by claiming “legacy tokens” related to school shootings are particularly “likely to spark incredibly intense interest and study by potential offenders who are considering a school based attack,” and claimed “[e]xperts agree” society should take steps to reduce such attacks that include “limiting the availability of legacy tokens for ideation, study, and inspiration by those considering an attack.”
Existence of the memo was previously revealed to The Star on Tuesday. This is the first time the contents of memo has been publicly reported and the document has been released.
The Star contacted the FBI for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Born a biological female, Hale identified as a transgender man at the time of her devastating attack on the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. Three pages of writings by Hale, recovered from her car, were leaked and subsequently published in 2023.
