Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to open a federal hate crime investigation into the Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale.
From The Daily Wire:
Police say a 28-year-old woman who identified as a transgender man killed three 9-year-old children and three adults at The Covenant School, which is associated with the conservative evangelical Covenant Presbyterian Church. Authorities revealed that the shooter, whom The Daily Wire will not name in accordance with company policy, executed a “targeted attack” and left behind a “manifesto.”
Hawley contended that the nature of the fatal shooting might indicate a specific desire to harm Christians. “Yesterday the nation witnessed the vicious murder of small schoolchildren in Nashville, Tennessee,” he wrote in a letter to the senior Biden administration officials. “It is commonplace to call such horrors ‘senseless violence.’ But properly speaking, that is false. Police report that the attack here was ‘targeted’ — targeted, that is, against Christians.”
The Republican lawmaker added that federal law criminalizes acts of violence based on their actual or perceived “religion.” Police detectives believe the shooter had “some resentment” for having to attend that school.
“I urge you to immediately open an investigation into this shooting as a federal hate crime,” Hawley added. “The full resources of the federal government must be brought to bear to determine how this crime occurred, and who may have influenced the deranged shooter to carry out these horrific crimes. Hate that leads to violence must be condemned. And hate crimes must be prosecuted.”
I am calling on FBI Director Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas to open a federal hate crime investigation into the massacre in Nashville – targeting a Christian school ???? pic.twitter.com/IvzrJUY2ZH
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 28, 2023
Hawley responded to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s challenge to Republicans after KJP asked what Republicans will say to the parents of the children who died.
“When will the White House condemn this hate crime against Christian children and teachers,” Hawley replied on Twitter.
When will the White House condemn this hate crime against Christian children and teachers https://t.co/Wb0BfpDhUa
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 28, 2023
