Mass shootings and, particularly, school shootings are far from rare in the United States. But one thing stood out greatly in Monday’s senseless killings at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The gunman was actually a gunwoman: 28 year-old Audrey Hale.
The former student of the Christian elementary school took two assault rifles and pistols to commit the senseless act of terror. She murdered three 9 year-old children and, at least, three adults. Cementing her place as the seventh female mass shooter in US history.
She died in a shootout with police, while she was holed up in the second floor of the school.
Brenda Spencer: the firt ever American female school shooter
Brenda Spencer began the trend in 1979, with her solo shooting of another elementary school in San Diego. Spencer, who is still in prison, never gave a concrete motive (besides not liking “Mondays”) for her act in which two adults died and 8 school children were wounded.
The Cleveland Elementary School shooting shocked the US and became the only mass shooting committed by a female in the 20th century on US soil.
Jennifer San Marco: the California postal facility shooter
More recently, Spencer’s acts were followed by Jennifer San Marco, in 2006. The Goleta postal facility shootings in California took the lives of six people, before San Marco ultimately committed suicide.
Writings were later found in her New Mexico desert home alluding to a supposed “plot” against her.
Amy Bishop and the 2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting
On February 12, 2010, six people were shot at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Disgruntled professor Amy Bishop shot up a meeting in the university’s biology department that was attended by 12 educators. Three succumbed to the gunfire.
Bishop ambushed them with her Ruger P95 handgun, then proceeded to leave the campus as if nothing had happened..
The year 2015 had two female US mass shooters
An example of a non-solo female shooter was Tashfeen Malik. Who in 2015, along with her husband Syed Farook wreaked havoc at a social services facility in San Bernardino, California. The body count was devastating, with 14 people succumbing to their injuries, and 17 suffering gunshot wounds.
Also in 2015, Louisiana Technical College student Latina Williams shot and killed two classmates in Baton Rouge, LA.
2018: the YouTube HQ shooting with no innocent fatalities
On April 3rd of 2018, 38 year-old Nasim Aghdan attacked the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, CA. Armed with a Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, she shot three people, wounding one of them critically. She then turned the gun on herself.
Aghdan had a vendetta with the streaming giant, while being a very active YouTuber. Her bizarre videos usually dealt with Persian culture, animal cruelty and veganism.
Women only participate in 2% of mass shootings in the United States
- Brenda Spencer – 1979 (2 dead, 8 wounded)
- Jennifer San Marco – 2006 (6 dead, death-by-suicide)
- Amy Bishop – 2010 (3 dead, 3 wounded)
- Tashfeen Malik – 2015 (14 dead, 17 wounded)
- Latina Williams – 2015 (2 dead, death-by-suicide)
- Nasim Aghdam – 2015 (3 wounded, death-by-suicide)
- Audrey Hale – 2023 (6 dead, death-by-police)
The Violence Project database shows that women make up only 2% of mass shooters in registered incidents in the United States. According to their data, only seven of 192 mass shooters (it has tracked since 1966) are females.
Audrey Hale was a Nashville-based graphic designer and illustrator. She also worked part-time delivering groceries through mobile apps.