Audio from a phone call made by a friend of the Nashville school shooting suspect Audrey Hale trying to report her concerns about the latter’s social media posts has been published for the first time.
Averianna Patton received a string of messages on Instagram from Hale at approximately 9.57am on Monday morning just moments before the armed assailant entered The Covenant School in the Green Hills suburb of the Tennessee city and shot dead six people, including three children, before being killed by police officers.
Hale’s messages to Patton, a former basketball teammate, revealed plans to die by suicide, telling her “this is my last goodbye” and that she would soon be reading about what was then about to unfold “on the news after I die”.
“One day this will make more sense. I’ve left behind more than enough evidence behind. But something bad is about to happen.”
Hale wrote.
Averianna Patton called the Metro Nashville Police Department after she received the series of messages from her former basketball teammate.
In the audio, which was released by FOX 17 Nashville, Patton can be heard describing how she “received a very, very weird message from a friend on Instagram.”
“I think it’s like a suicidal thing,” Patton is heard saying.
“I called the suicide hotline, and they told me to call the sheriff’s department, the sheriff’s department told me to call you guys,” Patton went on in the call.
“I’m just trying to see, can anybody — I just don’t want it on my conscience — if somebody can go check on her?”
Hale, who was transgender, had “looked at” two public schools before setting her sights on the Covenant School.
Hale arrived at school grounds around 9:54 a.m., according to surveillance footage. The 28-year-old sent several messages to Patton, a former classmate, just minutes later, and shortly before carrying out her 14-minute killing spree.
Hale referenced a past post in her message to Patton, which was sent from a since-deleted Instagram account under the name “Aiden.”
