( Fox )
A radical transgender group said the transgender Nashville shooter felt "no other effective way to be seen" than killing six people at a private Presbyterian school.
The Trans Resistance Network (TRN), a far-left transgender "collective," released an inflammatory statement on Monday in the wake of the Covenant School shooting by transgender woman Audrey Hale in Nashville that killed three nine-year-olds and three adults.
Calling the mass murder a dual "tragedy," the group wrote the first was the deaths of the children and adults in the school and extended their "deepest sympathies and heartfelt prayers to those families dealing with the loss of loved ones."
"There is nothing we can offer that will comfort the hurt, or ease the sorrow," TRN wrote. "We mourn with you."
"The second and more complex tragedy is that Aiden or Audrey Hale, who felt [she] had no other effective way to be seen than to lash out by taking the life of others, and by consequence, [herself]," they continued.
TRN wrote they "do not claim to know the individual or have access to their inner thoughts and feelings" but they "do know that life for transgender people is very difficult, and made more difficult in the preceding months by a virtual avalanche of anti-trans legislation, and public callouts by Right Wing personalities and political figures for nothing less than the genocidal eradication of trans people from society."
"Many transgender people deal with anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, and PTSD from the near-constant drum beat of anti-trans hate, lack of acceptance from family members and certain religious institutions, denial of our existence, and calls for de-transition and forced conversion," TRN claimed.
"All of these factors contribute to a population that is medically under-served and who often faces anti-trans bias while accessing care leading to significant physical and mental health disparities," they continued.
"Hate has consequences," the radical trans "collective" added.
TRN then pivoted to laud transgender people in the wake of the shooting that left three nine-year-olds dead as well as three adults in a Christian private school.
"It is a testament to the inner strength and beauty of transgender people, that despite the overwhelming odds of homelessness, job discrimination, and constant anti-trans bigotry and violence, so many of us continue to persevere, survive and even thrive. We will not be eradicated or erased."
The radical transgender group then made a veiled threat at the media, writing they "remind the news media to respect the self-identified pronouns of transgender individuals who come across your desk."
"[Audrey] Hale self identified with ‘He, Him’ pronouns on forward facing sites. We also urge you to avoid pandering to those individuals on the Right who will use this double-tragedy to torment fear and terror of trangender people in order to advance a political agenda of transgender elimination."
"Biased and sensationalized coverage of these viewpoints is both irresponsible and reprehensible," the radical trans group defending a mass murderer who killed children wrote.
According to its website, TRN "is a collective of experienced organizers, committed allies, and concerned groups who are coming together for the long-term survival and well-being of gender diverse people in a more extreme environment."
"The Trans Resistance Network (TRN) was formed to ensure the survival of gender diverse people and families through strategic coordination of community defense, mutual-aid, and alternative systems of gender affirming care," the website reads.
"We prioritize support for gender diverse children and families who are facing imminent danger, and gender diverse people who are Indigenous, Black and Brown. Trans rights are human rights!" it continues.
Nashville police on Monday identified the six people killed in the shooting: nine-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs, as well as adults Mike Hill, 61, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Katherine Koonce, 60.
Koonce was the head of the school and Peak was a substitute teacher. Hill was a custodian at the school.
The victims were shot and killed when Hale, a 28-year-old transgender former student of The Covenant School, entered the premises with two "assault-type rifles" and a handgun and began firing, police said.
Hale used hand-drawn maps with detailed entry points, which were found at Hale’s Nashville home.
The shooter was killed by responding Metropolitan Nashville Police Officers Rex Englebert and Michael Collazo.
Numerous local churches held prayer vigils Monday evening and several more are scheduled in the coming days to pay respects to the victims and offer the community's support for their families, according to local FOX affiliate WZTV.