Franklin Alderman Gabrielle Hanson is facing public scrutiny for voicing her unsubstantiated belief in a cover-up for the Covenant School shooting and suggesting she had a premonition of the tragic event.
Meanwhile, the topic was barely discussed at the first meeting of the mayor’s council and city councilors since the dispute emerged last week. Tuesday’s meeting turned out to be mostly business as usual, as elected leaders discussed major projects, long-term planning and honored influential citizens.
However, the discussion about the nuts and bolts of city business was partially overshadowed by comments Henson made days earlier on a conservative advocacy podcast. She said a “love triangle” was the motive behind the school shooting.
One resident at the meeting said Hanson should resign. City leaders later explained that residents were emailing ethics complaints while explaining the review process.
At least 25 email complaints have been filed against Henson demanding her resignation. The city’s recently formed ethics commission will review the complaints, with a response expected this summer.
Neither Henson nor other councilors addressed Henson’s previous comments directly at the meeting, although Matt Brown and Patrick Baggett later released statements. And just before adjournment, Jason Potts asked about next steps for ethics complaints.
For now, Franklin officials appear focused on the blue-collar job of running the city for a few months and avoiding the area’s latest culture-war-type debate — at least until the ethics review is complete.
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Public comments by citizens
Jared Sullivan, a Franklin resident who grew up in the city and recently co-organized the Rally for Common Sense Gun Laws, demanded during the public comment period that Henson resign.
“Her remarks were so defamatory that I wouldn’t dare repeat them here,” Sullivan said, referring to Henson’s podcast and radio interviews. “Hanson has not issued an apology or retraction. I struggle to imagine more offensive, undignified behavior from a city councillor.”
“We are a reasonable, civil community and Hanson has shown that he is anything but. Instead, she openly promoted conspiracy theories and refused to admit her mistakes when faced with the facts,” Sullivan added. “She is unbalanced and unfit to serve this community.”
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Comments of Franklin’s advisors
Baggett released a statement late Tuesday night.
“We have very important issues affecting our Franklin community that I want to focus on,” Baggett’s statement read. While I seriously question the wisdom of her statements, we must follow our ethics complaint ordinances and ensure a fair review so we can then turn our attention to the city’s more pressing issues.
Brown issued a statement Wednesday morning, describing Hanson’s comments as incredibly disheartening.
“They do not reflect my values, nor do I believe they reflect the values of this amazing city that I love,” Brown said. “Out of respect for the Ethics Commission and its process, I will continue to make further comments at this time. In the meantime, I hope that we, the mayor’s council and councilors, can focus our attention on the very important issues before us.”
Hanson: ‘I know what happened’
During an April 18 podcast interview with Mill Creek View host and editor Steve Abramovich, Hanson said a “love triangle” was the motive behind Audrey Hale fatally shooting multiple children and adults at Covenant School in March.
“So, from the contacts I have in Nashville, within 30 minutes of the shooting, I got the whole story,” Hanson said. “I know what happened. There was no threat to anyone else.”
Investigators said Hale’s written materials were “musings” that did not point to a clear motive.
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said Tuesday that the love triangle theory “never came up in our investigation.”
“We believe this claim to be false,” Aaron added.
Later in the interview, Abramovich indicated that a cover-up was underway.
“That’s why they shouldn’t want to release what they call the manifesto or the diaries or the laptops or the cellphones or any other incriminating evidence because that would take away the whole narrative of the fact that we’re a bunch of racists with automatic weapons,” Abramovich said.
Henson’s response: “Exactly. Yes.”
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Hanson: I’m not surprised by the Covenant shooting
The adviser also said she had a “gut feeling” about the shooting during the podcast interview.
“I just felt it,” Hanson said. “Don’t ask me how. It could be a holy spirit thing. I felt an active shooter coming. So when (the shooting) happened on Monday, I wasn’t surprised.”
Two days later, Hanson was a guest on conservative radio station SuperTalk 99.7 WTN. She was questioned at length by host Matt Murphy about her “contacts” and the shooting theory.
“I knew through my sources that several factual elements in her statements were false and I found it impossible to believe that she was ‘told’ by someone 30 minutes after the fact the entire background of what she claimed happened Murphy told The Tennessean. “She was also repeating gossip that had been debunked weeks ago.”
“I don’t like gossip, especially when it’s of such a sensitive, personal, painful nature.
Hanson said Friday that her family has been threatened following the interviews and criticism on social media.
Hanson’s husband, Tommy, in late March posted a video on his congressional campaign Facebook page saying “there is a connection between the shooter and some of the people there” about the Covenant School shooting.
“They’re withholding the information because they’re trying to decide whether it’s a terrorist attack or maybe some personal connection that could be classified differently,” said Tommy Hanson, a congressional candidate last year in Chicago.
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What’s next: Alderman comments on Covenant School shooting
City Administrator Eric Stuckey confirmed that the city has received 25 ethics complaints against Henson.
Stuckey said the ethics ordinance follows state guidelines. Complaints are referred to the city attorney, then to the ethics commission. Hanson will have 30 days to file a response.
The public discussion will be held on June 20 at 5 p.m. in the town hall. Then the commission could decide Henson’s political future.
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