Seven Nashville, Tenn., police officers were placed on “administrative assignment” after the mayor ordered an investigation into the leak of pages of a manifesto purported to belong to the school shooter who killed six people at The Covenant School in March.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) stressed that the administrative assignment was “absolutely non-punitive,” in a statement to The Hill on Thursday. They did not identify the officers by name, saying that doing so would be “not fair to them.”
The MNPD said the assignment was intended “to protect the integrity of the active, progressing investigation,” adding that the police officers still have full police power.
On Monday, conservative media host Steven Crowder posted images online of what he purported to be the shooter’s manifesto.
“I am greatly disturbed by today’s unauthorized release of three pages of writings from the Covenant shooter,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a statement Monday. “This police department is extremely serious about the investigation to identify the person responsible.”
“This action showed a total disregard for Covenant families, as well as the court system, which has control of the shooter’s journals at the present time due to litigation filed earlier this year,” he added.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said Monday that the investigation may include local, state and federal law enforcement.
“I am deeply concerned with the safety, security and well-being of the Covenant families and all Nashvillans we are grieving,” he said.
The manifesto is under court order to be kept private.
The parents of victims argued in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that it should be kept from the public in order to prevent more trauma. The lawsuit is ongoing.