Kriti Mehrotra
The number of school shootings in the US reportedly averaged at around 17 in the mid-to-late 1990s, but they have skyrocketed to an astoundingly unnerving 132 in the past few years. Unfortunately, the mainstream media coverage of the same has only left many desensitized, which is why journalists Steve Hartman and Lou Bopp decided to lead Netflix’s ‘All the Empty Rooms.’ This short documentary follows the duo as they document the mostly frozen-in-time bedrooms of students killed in such incidents, amongst which was the safe haven of 9-year-old Hallie Scruggs.
Hallie Scruggs Was Fatally Shot in Her Elementary School
Born on June 24, 2013, in Dallas, Texas, to Jada and Chad Scruggs, Hallie Ladelle Scruggs was the youngest of their four children and their only daughter. She was the light of her family’s lives. According to their accounts, she bore the characteristics of a typical girl, as well as those of a tomboy, so she not only loved purple and camo (although not together) but also never hesitated to play rough with her brothers. In fact, she had more stitches than any of her siblings and was often found barefoot, sweating after playing basketball or soccer, and mostly with different types of foods stuck right on her face.
Hallie was thus an undeniable force of nature, with such a passion for life even at the tender age of 9 that she was always on the go – smiling, running, playing, and jumping to her heart’s content. As per her obituary, the ninja as well as unicorn enthusiast also “loved to do chest bumps, elaborate handshake routines, and dabbing people up,” all the while keeping her feisty yet smart personality. It goes without saying that she had an incredible life ahead of her, but it was tragically cut short on March 27, 2023, while she was in class at The Covenant School in Green Hills, Nashville, Tennessee.
Hallie was dropped off as usual on the fateful Monday morning, unaware that the fire alarm would ring out shortly after 10:10 am because there was a heavily armed active shooter on the premises. All she, her classmates, and her teachers knew upon hearing the siren was that they should evacuate, so they stepped out of their second-floor classroom and quickly made their way to the stairwell. That’s where they encountered the shooter, who immediately opened fire – while many managed to escape, three 9-year-old students, including Hallie, and a substitute teacher were injured. They were rushed to the nearby Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt as soon as officials managed to secure the scene, but it was too late – they were all sadly pronounced dead.
Haille Scruggs’ Killer Turned Out to be a Former Student of the School
According to official records, it was at 9:54 am when 28-year-old Aiden Hale (born Audrey Hale) arrived at the private Christian school from where he had reportedly graduated nearly 18 years prior. He subsequently sent an Instagram message to an old friend to assert that an earlier post he made was his “suicide note,” following which he armed himself with three weapons and wore protective gear. He then entered the institute by shooting through the glass doors, pulled the trigger on the custodian as he tried to run away, and made his way up the stairs while fire alarms blared out. The smoke from his weapon is what triggered the alarm, which also immediately notified the emergency services. However, by this point, even his old friend had dialed the crisis hotline in worry.
As per reports, Aiden then opened fire on those trying to evacuate, aiming at everyone and no one in particular, after which he fired into two adjacent classrooms until he had emptied two magazines. He injured one student in the process before reportedly reloading his weapon to continue his search for more people, which is when he came across the school’s headmistress. He shot at the educator multiple times prior to making his way downstairs at 10:19 am, where he used his different firearms to shoot inside the church sanctuary, at two television sets, into several other classrooms, and ultimately at the police officers arriving at the scene.
Thankfully, officers managed to enter the building at 10:23 am, following which one team evacuated everyone on the ground and first floor while another confronted Aiden on the second floor. It was 10:27 am when the formal call about the threat being neutralized was made – two officers out of the five present had opened fire at him after he refused to cooperate. He passed away from 4 gunshot wounds: one each to the head, torso, left arm, and right thigh. During the ensuing investigations, it came to light that he had fired 152 rounds during the attack, had 272 more on his person, and five additional loaded magazines in his car.
A search of the 28-year-old’s home also yielded a shotgun in his closet as well as a suicide note on his desk, indicating he planned to take his own life after the attack. A total of 6 lives were lost in this mass shooting, 7 including Aiden’s, making it the deadliest school shooting in Tennessee history. The other victims, apart from Haille, were 9-year-old students Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney, custodian Mike Hill, teacher Cynthia Peak, and headmistress Katherine Koonce. In the end, in April 2025, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department closed this case upon concluding that Aiden’s motive was a desire for notoriety.
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