Garland: Too early to say if Nashville school shooting was a hate crime

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Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday it’s too early to say whether the Monday shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, will be investigated as a hate crime.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., suggested earlier in the say that authorities should treat it as a hate crime that targeted students and staff at the private Christian school. But when asked by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., if federal officials would open up a hate crime investigation, Garland told him a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing that it’s too early to determine motive.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland said it's too soon to say whether the Justice Department will open up a hate crime investigation into the Nashville, Tennessee school shooting at The Covenant School. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

"The FBI and ATF are both on the scene working with the local police," Garland said. "As of now, motive hasn’t been identified, and the police chief said at his last press conference that they don’t yet have… a conclusion with respect to motive."

"We are certainly working full time with them to determine what the motive is, and of course, motive is what determines whether it’s a hate crime or not," Garland added.

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A police officer comforts a mourner outside of The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. On Monday, six people - three adults and three children - were killed inside the school in a mass shooting. (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)

Kennedy acknowledged that the shooter, Audrey Elizabeth Hale, was killed soon after the shooting began by police who stormed the school. But Kennedy said Hale could have had collaborators who might also need to be brought to justice.

In response to another question from Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Garland said it's possible a hate crime investigation is opened. "A motive that is based on a religion on the political ideology of the victims is a hate crime," he confirmed to Hagerty.

Hale, 28, was a former student at the school who identified as a transgender person. Hale killed three students and three adults before she was killed.

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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is urging DOJ to treat the shooting as a hate crime. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Sen. Hawley said Nashville police believe Hale was specifically targeting Christians, and local reports say police are examining a manifesto that Hale left behind.

"This was a hate crime against Christian children & teachers," Hawley tweeted on Tuesday. "There is no defending it. All activist groups should condemn this hate crime and all hate rhetoric that contributed to it."

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"When will the White House condemn this hate crime against Christian children and teachers," he asked on Twitter.