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A report published in the Daily Mail on Wednesday suggested that the tragic car crash death of Sydney Sims, twin sister of Taylor Sims, left Audrey Hale heartbroken.  And may have been what led her to shoot up the Christian school in a Nashville murder spree.

Hale was the shooter of the recent massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville. And murdered six people on Monday.

Three students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney (all aged nine), and three staff members Katherine Koonce, 60, Cynthia Peak, 61, and Mike Hill, 61, were all killed.

Hale was reportedly a transgender man who has been using he/him pronouns since last year. And the suspect’s social media accounts indicate that Audrey refers to themselves as Aiden.

The trans shooter was reportedly infatuated with Sydney Sims. They played on the same basketball team in middle school, about 15 years ago. There is no evidence the two were romantically involved. Or even stayed in touch through the years.

Sydney went to Tuskegee University on a basketball scholarship. After college, she began working as a medical assistant and behavioral therapist. 

The then 27-year-old was killed in a head-on collision in North Nashville. Although she was rushed to the hospital, both she and her 20-year-old passenger died from their injuries.

Twin says late Sydney Sims did not inspire murder spree

Hale sent the Sims family a floral tribute and attended Sydney’s funeral in August. 

Taylor Sims denied allegations that her sister was involved with Hale in an Instagram post. And she claims that the story saying her sister inspired the mass shooter to act was “disgusting.” 

‘Please don’t attach such a nasty, disgusting tragedy to my sister’s name,’ Taylor wrote. ‘This is very sick and just goes to show people talk. Please leave my sister out of it.’ 

Samira Hardcastle, who attended the Nashville School of Arts with both girls, claimed that Hale looked up to Sims. And continued to post “almost daily.”  The “heartbroken” messages about Sim's death have since been deleted from social media accounts.

Hale attended the unveiling of a painting dedicated to Sims and posted a clip of herself silently bouncing a ball on TikTok with the caption: “For Syd. I look up the sky is bright. It’s a beautiful day. I wish you were here…”

In her Instagram post, Taylor emphasized that “We’ve not had any contact with that girl for years due to other things.” And said that “She then popped up uninvited to my sister's painting that my mom held a few weeks ago. (Odd) And still don’t know how she found out.”

“So, with all due respect don’t attach my family, especially my sister, to this mess.”

Hale also expressed similarly misplaced affection to Averianna Patton, minutes before the shooting. Patton called the suicide hotline and tried to stop Hale's rampage. And she explained to CNN’s Don Lemon that she hadn’t had a friendship with the gunman since they were children.