(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Tennessee Star revealed this week that Nashville mass shooter Audrey Hale had suicidal thoughts prompted by Prozac and other medication.
Hale, a 28-year-old woman who was identifying as a man at the time of the mass shooting, gunned down three Christian children and three adults in March 2023 before being killed by law enforcement.
Citing police records, The Star reported Tuesday that Hale first experienced suicidal thoughts when prescribed the antidepressant Prozac as a high school student.
Hale’s mother, Norma Hale, reportedly told Nashville police that her daughter “did have suicidal ideation when she was a sophomore in high school” when a psychiatrist “put her on Prozac.”
“Before we got her off the medication, I would sleep on a sleeping bag in front of her door just to make sure that she did not leave the room. And then she was okay,” Hale added.
In a separate article, The Star also revealed Tuesday that Hale was diagnosed with five mental disorders in 2011: anxiety disorder, social phobia, dysthymia disorder, major depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder.
“Ronald Hale and Norma Hale told MNPD investigators that Audrey Hale was given the diagnosis after a series of tests were administered by an individual who appears to be employed by Vanderbilt University and affiliated with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where police documents revealed Audrey Hale was a 22-year mental health patient prior to her March 27, 2023, attack,” The Star added.
The Star’s articles this week follow a release last month of internal medical notes about the shooter. According to those notes, Hale told psych workers about “recent thoughts of going into a school and shooting a bunch of people.” Hale began receiving treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on April 23, 2001, when the shooter was just six years old.
According to The Star, Nashville police may be investigating whether Hale confided to a VUMC staff member about violent fantasies.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
