Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale was “heartbroken” over the 2022 death of a girl she was “infatuated” with, who had played on the same basketball team in school.
Samira Hardcastle told The Post that “tomboyish” Hale had been deeply affected by the death of Sydney Sims, who was killed in a vehicle accident in August 2022,
according to an obituary.
Hardcastle, a classmate of both girls in middle and high school, said, “After Sydney’s tragic death, Audrey was really heartbroken over it … I just feel like she took it differently than some of us did. She was still posting about Sydney almost daily.
“What I knew of her was more admiring [Sydney]. Maybe even infatuation. That’s specifically who she really, really looked up to.”
Hale, who
police said was transgender and had started to identify using he/him pronouns, posted a TikTok in February on a since-deleted account, “iam_aiden10,” dedicated to “Syd.”
The clip showed a shadow of a person bouncing a basketball and the words: “For Syd. I look up the sky is bright. It’s a beautiful day. I wish you were here…”
Hardcastle said she had last seen Audrey — who
shot her way into her former elementary school on Monday and killed three 9-year-olds and three staff members — a month ago when they had both attended a taping of their friend Avieranna Patton’s radio show.
“I don’t think she was with anyone. She was just kind of by herself,” Hardcastle said, adding, “I don’t think that they were very close but I think Audrey looked up to [her] like she looked up to Sydney. But I don’t know that it was ever, like, a two-way thing.”