The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said charges will not be filed against a juvenile male who was captured on video trespassing on the campus of Covenant Presbyterian Church and School on two suspected occasions beginning in December 2025.
Last month, MNPD asked the public for assistance in identifying a suspect caught on surveillance video trespassing inside the church and on its grounds on two separate occasions, carrying what appeared to be a video camera and taking photos of the campus at night.
The first trespassing incident occurred shortly after midnight on December 26, 2025, when the individual entered the church through an unsecured door while carrying a camera. Police said the individual walked through the building until an alarm was triggered, at which point he immediately fled the property.
The second incident occurred in the early hours of January 9. Surveillance video showed the individual outside the school and church grounds around 1:00 a.m., where he appeared to take photos and videos of the campus and himself in front of the building before walking toward a nearby wooded area.
In a released update on its website, MNPD said its detectives have since identified and spoken with the individual involved in the incidents.
According to MNPD, the person is a juvenile with mental health issues who “told detectives that he wanted to be a journalist and goes to different places to video.”
MNPD further said the juvenile’s family has been “forthcoming and cooperative” throughout the investigation and added, “Given the totality of the circumstances, no charges are being placed.”
The trespassing incidents come nearly three years after 28-year-old, self-identified transgender man Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 22-year mental health patient, killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.
Notably, Hale, according to MNPD’s 48-page final report into the shooting, “traveled to the school outside of school hours and conducted a reconnaissance of the exterior of the building” prior to carrying out the deadly attack.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
