TBI searches the home of a former MNPD officer identified during the investigation into the Covenant School shooter's writings

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation searched the home of the former Metro Nashville Police Department officer identified in an investigation into the leaking of the Covenant School shooter's writings. The documents were shared with a media outlet in Tennessee, which later published them.

The TBI confirmed to WSMV4 Investigates that former MNPD Officer Garet Davidson's home in Portland was searched “several weeks ago in connection with an ongoing investigation.”

WSMV4 Investigates confirmed through two separate checks of property records in Robertson County that the home searched by investigators is owned by Davidson.

Additionally, the former Nashville officer is represented by a deposition document from Lt. Alfredo Arevalo linked to the leaks.

In the document, Arevalo explains:

6. A hard drive with the complete criminal investigation file was personally handed over to me on November 7, 2023. After receiving the file, I did not look at it; I had no reason to do so due to the progress of the leak investigation. Rather, I handed the external drive containing the criminal investigation file to the then OPA lieutenant, Garet Davidson, for storage in the OPA safe in his office. Mr. Davidson was the only person who had the key and combination to the locked safe at the time.

7. On November 20, 2023, I personally saw Mr. Davidson open the OPA safe and removed the hard drive. I then personally handed over the hard drive with the criminal investigation file to the MNPD homicide squad and watched as Lt. Brent Gibson put them back in their locked safe.

8. At the end of December 2023, Mr. Davidson resigned from MNPD.

9. On June 4, 2024, Mr. Davidson appeared on the Tennessee Star radio show and was interviewed by Michael Patrick Leahy. In that interview, he discussed the contents of a memo the FBI sent to MNPD regarding the Covenant School shooting that had not previously been publicly released. A day later, on June 5, 2024, the Tennessee Star said it obtained dozens of pages from the shooter's diary from a source. The Tennessee Star then began publishing articles about the contents of the Covenant School criminal investigation file. Mr. Davidson continued to appear on Leahy's radio show for interviews about the Covenant School criminal investigation file, although at no time did he play an active or passive role in the Covenant School criminal investigation or the subsequent government investigation into the leak.

11. In attempting to determine the source of this leaked information, I have learned from Covenant School investigators assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division that the information in the Tennessee Star stories is the same information contained in the November 2023 were included in the case file when I gave it to Mr. Davidson for storage in his office at OPA.

You can read the full statement from Lt. Read Arevalos by clicking this link.

In September, the Tennessee Star published all 90 pages of the diary allegedly seized during a search of the Covenant School shooter's home and vehicle on the day of the shooting that left six people dead. The media outlet released the handwritten diary, which it said was found in the shooter's car outside the school on March 27, 2023, and was obtained legally through a source involved in the Covenant School investigation.

The Tennessee Star published the writings despite a court order sealing them. It was one of several parties that had previously filed a lawsuit to force the Metro government to release at least 20 magazines, a suicide note and memoirs from the shooter.

Shortly after the leaked documents were published, WSMV4 Investigates contacted MNPD for comment. While the department declined to comment, a police spokesperson said MNPD “remains very concerned about this and wants to know who is responsible.”

Leahy also issued a statement after publication starasserted on the publisher's website the First Amendment right to publish the magazine and expressed its willingness to fight any legal action aimed at deeming it in contempt.

In July, Davidson County Chancellor I'ashea Myles decided that the writings would not be made public. Myles' decision was based on a number of factors, including a federal copyright law that bars publication of the writings and information about school security that could endanger others if it fell into the wrong hands.

WSMV4 Investigates reached out to Davidson for comment and has not yet heard back. This is a developing story.

WSMV4 reported on Davidson before he was identified in the leak investigation. Back in May 2024, Davidson alleged that MNPD officers had committed unethical acts. Davidson said officials have been working with lawmakers to eliminate municipal boards of supervisors across the state, including Nashville.

“I am reaching out to you today to explain why I filed a 61-page complaint with MNPD,” Davidson said in an explanatory video he created.

The document contains nine separate complaints, but one alleges that two officers worked with lawmakers to limit independent review of alleged police misconduct. The law abolished the Community Oversight Board, which had the authority to conduct investigations jointly with MNPD's Office of Professional Accountability (OPA).

“I believe one consequence that officers are already seeing from this change in the law is an increase in the number of OPA investigations conducted,” Davidson said in the video.

Davidson said in his complaint that MNPD Chief John Drake knew about the lobbying between officers and lawmakers. Drake did not address this in his recent statement to the media, only stating that MNPD is reviewing and will investigate the complaint.

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