NASHVILLE – A Tennessee man has been charged after threatening a conservative talk radio host over a lawsuit filed to obtain the manifesto of the transgender shooter in March’s Nashville school shooting.
Michael Alonzo Rouse was charged with making a death threat via email to Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO of The Star News Network and Star News Digital Media.
Leahy has filed lawsuits to obtain the writings of Audrey Hale, who killed three students and three faculty members of The Covenant School
Leahy
| Courtesy photo
“I’m willing to go to prison to end you,” Rouse’s email allegedly said, according to published reports.
“Michael Patrick Leahy ... if it were not illegal to beat your ass up ... I'd have done it months ago,” the email said, according to Just The News. “I have called your show twice because you decided to pound home the transgender Audrey Hale while people who suffered were healing. You dirty potato eating Mick. If I see you on the street ... I'm going to end your conservative slant eye ass …
“I'm willing to go to prison to end you. You dirty drug addict eyed Irish fool. You either end your talk show or I'll end your life in real time while you do it. You have no right to the manifesto of Audrey Hale and you just want content by obtaining it.”
The email ends with, “Send the authorities. You'd better if you still want to live, Leahy.”
Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said Rouse was arrested July 11 for felony aggravated stalking and a misdemeanor harassment charge. He posted bond and is scheduled to appear in court September 7.
The FBI and Nashville police have refused to release Hale’s writings that were found in her vehicle outside The Covenant School, which she had attended. Authorities cite a pending investigation in the matter while saying Hale acted alone. The school, other private Nashville schools and some parents have fought to block the release of the documents, according to published reports.
Leahy’s lawsuits – one in federal court against the FBI and one in state court against the Metro Nashville Police Department – seek release of the writings under a Freedom of Information Act request.
“The Manifesto is alleged to reveal the motivations of Audrey Hale. These motivations are not only relevant to my reporting, but important for public safety and therefore of intense national media interest,” the Star FOIA request to the FBI stated, also saying it sought “notes, journal entries, plans, letters, writings or other documents making up what law enforcement officials have labeled as Audrey Hale’s ‘manifesto.'”
The FBI denied the request, and Star News filed an administrative appeal. But it also was denied.
Star News’ lawsuit notes similar situations when the FBI released the writings of other shooters, most notably Ted Kaczynski’s in 1995.
“In state court, the number of litigants who don’t want this out there is huge, and it’s surprising,” Leahy told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on July 20. “And (in the federal case), we just filed for summary judgment to release the manifesto. The judge there (Aleta A. Trauger) is actually a pretty good judge in tamping down the federal government.
“We think there is a reasonable chance we’ll get that released sometime in August.”