NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An autopsy and toxicology examination completed in the days following the Covenant school shooting showed no evidence of significant toxic substances in the shooter's blood, according to the toxicology report released this week.
The examination tested for 16 different toxic substances, including amphetamines, barbiturates, cannabinoids, cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and oxycodone, among others.
Emily Dennison, the physician who conducted the toxicology tests, reported that the examination "did not reveal any positive findings of toxicological significance."
The report did not describe any testing to indicate whether the shooter's blood contained testosterone or other drugs used in gender-affirming care, a theory posited by some to account for the shooter's behavior.
Within a roughly ten-minute window from when the shooter began firing until Metro Police arrive, police say the shooter fired 152 rounds — 126 from a rifle and 26 from a 9-millimeter handgun.
In that time, the shooter killed three students and three staff members: nine-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs; school custodian Mike Hill, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak and head of the Covenant School, Katherine Koonce.
WHERE THE REST OF THE DOCUMENTS ARE
The autopsy report is one of the first documents the public now has access to after the mass shooting.
Whether there could be a release of further information could be decided next month.
As of Monday, a chancery court judge ruled that public records cases, as intended by the legislature, should be expedited. As of now, the documents are part of a pending lawsuit, including five different parties who want the document immediately. The five parties who petitioned are the Tennessee Firearms Association, National Police Association, the Tennessee Star, The Tennessean newspaper, and state Sen. Todd Gardenhire. All five of those requests have now been consolidated into one court case.
Chancellor I'Ashea Myles declined to wait for an appeals court for those wanting the documents. Originally, those five parties wanted to wait for an appeals court to decide on allowing the Covenant School parents, church and school itself to intervene in the case.
Myles previously ruled that the Covenant entities could intervene in the case, meaning they could have an opinion in the court of what documents they want released if any. In a move Tuesday afternoon, private schools in Nashville filed an amicus brief supporting Covenant's efforts. Schools in support included Franklin Road Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Oak Hill School, St. Paul Christian Academy.
The basic argument in their brief is that the release of the documents puts other schools at risk. This comes as police said, in the beginning, there were other possible targets named in the shooter's writings. The hearing for the amicus brief is June 30.
The next step in the overall case is a show cause hearing a month from now on July 12.
First Amendment lawyers and public records advocates have told NewsChannel 5 repeatedly in the case that the records are public regardless of the suit because MNPD hasn't indicated they were actively using those documents to charge anyone with a crime.
Although, the declarations by MNPD Assistant Chief Mike Hagar and Lt. Brent Gibson said that police were still actively investigating the mass shooting that left six people dead in addition to the shooter at The Covenant School. Of the six who died, three of them were children. The two said even though the shooter died the investigation doesn't "automatically close."
MNPD has said that analyzing the shooter's documents could take up to a year. MNPD chief John Drake said in late May they would release the documents if ordered by a court to do so.
