Brent Leatherwood, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, denounced the partial leak of a manifesto written by a shooter who murdered six people at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.

The shooter, an alumna of the private Christian school in Nashville and a woman who identified as a man, murdered three nine-year-old children and three staff members in March of this year. Three pages from her manifesto, which has been withheld from the public by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, were released on Monday by conservative commentator Steven Crowder, demonstrating that the shooter had harbored anti-white sentiments.

Leatherwood, whose children attend the Covenant School, remarked during a press conference on Monday evening that parents had worked “to prevent this exact moment from happening” because they knew “these thoughts from the shooter were heinous” and could “inspire further attacks.” He described the shooter as “detached from reality” while denouncing Crowder as an “online shockjock” who profited from the release of the document; he did not react specifically to the anti-white sentiments but called the manifesto “evil.”

He also characterized the “member of the law enforcement community” who leaked the pages as a “viper” who had allegedly committed a felony. He claimed that the leaker needed to “repent” and should be “brought to justice.”

Reporters at the press conference sought to present a number of clarifying questions. When asked whether he knew that the leaker was a member of law enforcement, Leatherwood said that he believes the shooter to be associated with the police based on the speed at which officers secured the Covenant School premises amid the massacre. He also commented that neither he nor any other parent, to his knowledge, had access to the manifesto before the leak.

Jon Whitehead, a trustee of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, confirmed to The Sentinel that Leatherwood disclosed to the entity’s board that he was serving as the legal representative for a group of Covenant School parents. Leatherwood believes that his actions have been within the parameters established by representatives from Southern Baptist Convention member churches, even as the full board has not been asked to approve any particular actions from Leatherwood related to the Covenant School parents or their litigation.

The Sentinel contacted the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission for additional comment and will update this article with any response.

Leatherwood has previously been criticized for leveraging Southern Baptist institutions to advance interests with which the denomination’s conservative churches disagree. In the wake of the shooting, Leatherwood wrote a letter stating that members of the Southern Baptist Convention would support a gun control measure known as a red flag law, even though the policies are unpopular among the vast majority of Republicans and many independents.

Parents from the Covenant School started a lobbying organization over the summer which unsuccessfully attempted to pass a red flag law in the state of Tennessee, as previously reported by The Sentinel. One parent was recently invited to the White House for a ceremony recognizing the creation of a new federal gun control office that will be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris.