The
Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said in a brief
statement on Wednesday that the officers' administrative
assignments were "absolutely non-punitive" and were ordered "to
protect the integrity of the active, progressing investigation."
All seven retain "full police power," the statement added. A
spokesperson, Brooke Reese, said they continue to receive pay.
Neither the names of the seven officers nor their connection to
the leak inquiry were given.
The officers' reassignments became effective on Monday, the day
that the investigation was opened by the department on its own
initiative, Reese said. The inquiry was also requested by
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell.
Police have said since the day of The Covenant School massacre
that the suspect left behind a "manifesto" and other writings,
but the contents of that material was kept sealed by
investigators. Three 9-year-old students and three adults were
slain in the March 27 attack. The suspect was shot dead by
police at the scene.
The images of three pages of writing began circulating on social
media on Monday after they were posted on the website of the
podcast "Louder with Crowder," which claimed to have
"exclusively obtained" the photos.
Podcast host Steve Crowder said in an interview with a Nashville
journalist on Tuesday that the leaked material came through
anonymous sources, including a detective involved in the case.
Within hours of the shooting, Police Chief John Drake had
identified the suspect as Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old
former student of the school who the chief described as a
"transgender person." It soon emerged that Hale had been going
by the name Aiden and using male pronouns on social media in the
months before the shooting.
Drake at the time said Hale had been under a doctor's care for
an "emotional disorder," had amassed a collection of guns and
might have harbored "some resentment" for having to attend the
Covenant School as a child. But police have never offered a
conclusive motive.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Diane
Craft)
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