In March 2023, six people were killed in a shooting at a Nashville elementary school. Three of the victims were children. The perpetrator, who was equipped with three firearms, was killed by police officers. In addition to covering the tragedy of the attack, news reports focused on two parallel elements: an unpublished ‘manifesto’ found by authorities at the shooter’s residence after the event and the identity of the attacker.
There were reports by the media that the shooter had left a document, possibly a manifesto, for authorities to find. While the actual content of the document remains unknown, other journalists later referred to the document as a suicide note. This description seems to have been echoed by the shooter in a private text exchange on Instagram shortly before the attack – and as having been part of a broader collection of documents, including maps of the school and detailed plans of action. Yet, the use of the term manifesto immediately fueled comparisons of the Nashville shooter with other lone attackers, like the Buffalo and Christchurch attackers.
Read more at the Global Network on Extremism and Technology
