Four Nashville officers return to work after Covenant School shooting document leak

Four of the seven officers placed on administrative leave in the Covenant School document leak earlier this month have returned to regular duty as Nashville police continues its investigation into how the documents were released, the department announced Friday.

Metro Police launched its investigation after media personality Steven Crowder released three pages that were said to be from the Covenant School shooter's journals.

Metro Police quickly denied photos of pages in the leak were official investigative documents.

The Tennessean has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the documents.

Metro Police Chief John Drake said the release of the documents showed a total disregard for Covenant families as well as the court system, which currently has control of the shooter’s journals due to litigation filed earlier this year.

"This police department is extremely serious about the investigation to identify the person responsible," for the release of the documents, Drake in an earlier release. He noted the department is "not at liberty to release the journals until the courts rule. Our police department looks forward to the ultimate resolution of the litigation concerning the journals."

Tennessean reporters requested several records within days of the shooting on March 27, when the shooter, a former Covenant student, entered the school and killed six people, including three children.

Several groups, including The Tennessean, sued Metro Nashville after those records requests were denied. The school and Covenant families are intervening in the lawsuit and seeking to prevent the city from releasing the records. The case remains pending in court.

Some organizations, like The Tennessean, cited an interest in bringing to light "additional facts regarding this incident, societal and mental health issues, and issues regarding firearms more broadly, which have not yet been revealed through other means," according to the news organization's complaint.

The Tennessean has no plans to publish the writings verbatim and has sought to center coverage on public policy, the victims and the community.

The Tennessean has not reported on the contents of the documents released by Crowder and does not intend to do so.

Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville police officers return to duty after Covenant document leak