The person suspected of opening fire at a Christian private school in Nashville, TN may have been transgender. Police identified them as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, and said, in the press conferance “she does identify as transgender,” according to reports in Newsweek and elsewhere. Rumors and false reports claiming to reveal the shooter’s identity swirled in the immediate wake of the news that the shooter had been female, focusing on the theory that the shooter was a trans woman.
According to USA today, the shooter was a transgender man. Many reports have referred to the shooter as a woman and used she/her pronouns.
The Transgender Journalist’s Association released a statement asking the press to refrain from speculation ahead of the facts in cases like this where information is tentative, partial, and potentially misleading.
