Federal judge orders FBI to turn over copy of Covenant School shooter’s writings

As of now, there’s no timeline on when the court could rule on releasing the writings.
A federal court could soon weigh in on whether the Covenant School shooter’s journal gets released to the public.
Published: Mar. 20, 2024 at 11:32 AM CDT
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A federal court could soon weigh in on whether the Covenant School shooter’s journal gets released to the public as the saga continues nearly a year after the deadly shooting.

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was ordered to turn over a copy of the writings to a federal judge in Middle Tennessee, Aleta A. Trauger, so she can read it privately and decide if the writings should be made public.

Judge Trauger’s order is part of a lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Star in federal court last year under the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI is seeking the case’s dismissal, but the judge said she needs to review the writings first.

As of now, there’s no timeline on when the court could rule on releasing the writings.

Meanwhile, Davidson County Judge I’Ashea Myles is set to hear arguments about releasing the writings in the state public records lawsuit on April 16.

In November of 2023, a podcast leaked pages of the writings online.

Steven Crowder, host of “Louder with Crowder,” released three photos of writings in notebooks. Crowder claims they are images of the shooter’s writings. A source confirmed to WSMV4 that those images were indeed from the shooter.

In the leaked images of the writings, the shooter mentioned killing children and wrote a timeline of their plan for the day of the shooting.

You can read the full order below: