'Hate has consequences': Trans group mourns death of Nashville trans mass killer

The Trans Resistance Network (TRN) released a statement in response to Monday's school shooting at Nashville Covenant Christian, where they warn that "hate has consequences," and showed deep sympathies with mass murderer Audrey Hale. 

Hale identified as trans, sometimes went by the name Aiden Hale, and used he/him pronouns.



The statement began by expressing sympathies to the families of the three children and three adults who lost their lives. They wrote that this incident was "not just one tragedy, but two." 

The second tragedy, according to the statement, was the shooter's sense of isolation that led to Hale taking the lives of others: "The second and more complex tragedy is that Aiden or Aubrey Hale, who felt he had no other effective way to be seen than to lash out by taking the life of others, and by consequence, himself," the TRN wrote.



The TRN wrote that they did not know Hale and they do not have access to their inner thoughts and feelings but pointed to recent "anti-trans" legislation and statements by "right-wing personalities and political figures" who they claim have made statements calling for the eradication of trans people from society. 

"Many transgender people deal with anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, and PTSD from the near-constant drumbeat of anti-trans hate, lack of acceptance from family members and certain religious institutions, denial of our existence, and calls for de-transition and forced conversion," the organization claimed.

The TRN has made several calls for trans people to "defend" themselves and to prepare to do so "at a moment's notice against nazis and fascists." 



One tweet from the org states, "our community is under attack from all directions. This repression is interconnected and escalating."



Monday's shooting resulted in the deaths of six individuals, including three nine-year-old children. Surveillance footage released by the Nashville police showed responding officers quickly taking down Hale, who had gained entry to the school by shooting through the glass panes of the front door.



According to Nashville PD, Hale was armed with three guns and significant ammunition. She fired a number of rounds inside the school building. Hale killed head school head Katherine Koonce, church custodian Mike Hill, and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak in an "assassination" style shooting.

Hale was a former student of Covenant Christian school, and the police found maps and a manifesto detailing the attack at the family home in Nashville. Police have said that the attack on the school was targeted.