U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) called on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to immediately investigate the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville as a federal hate crime.
“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,” Hawley wrote in a March 28 letter. “Hate that leads to violence must be condemned. And hate crimes must be prosecuted.”
The letter was sent to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas after a trans individual identified by police as Audrey Hale killed six people including students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, and employees Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce, and Michael Hill.
“Sen. Hawley is definitely ahead of the pack,” said Jean Evans, executive director emeritus of the Missouri Republican Party. “He's not someone leading from behind. He is out in front of issues, which is one of the reasons why I believe he is so popular in Missouri because he sees what people here care about and starts talking about it.”
18 U.S.C. § 249(a)(1), a federal hate crime statute, states that it is illegal to willfully cause bodily injury because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of an individual.
“Anytime there's been a shooting at a major religious institution, whether it's Jewish or Muslim, it shouldn't matter what the religion is,” Evans told the St. Louis Record.
Hawley also introduced a resolution that would condemn the shooting as a federal hate crime and urged Congress on the U.S. Senate Floor to approve it.
"It is a crime under federal law to target and commit acts of violence against Americans because of their religious beliefs, because of their religious affiliation, or because of their religious practices,” he said. “This should not happen in the United States of America, and now we must act to see that it does not spread."
Hale’s attack was both premeditated and targeted the Christian school, its students, and its employees, according to Nashville law enforcement.
As previously reported in the New York Post, although the Nashville shooter was identified as transgender, CBS News executives banned journalists from using 'transgender' when reporting about Hale.
"The members of this community were singled out because of their religious affiliation and now three young children are dead and three educators are dead because of their affiliation with this religious institution, because of their beliefs, because of their work, because of their service," Hawley added. "That is a crime under federal law and it must be treated as such."