all that hate and fear mongering that some media outlets churn up has deadly affects... the shooter must have been in a tough situation but it is no excuse to walk into a church and start blasting people. Church shooting suspect angry over job search, police say http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/28/church.shooting/index.html KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- The suspect in a fatal shooting at a Knoxville church Sunday was motivated by frustration over being unable to obtain a job and hatred for the liberal movement, police said Monday. Authorities recovered a four-page letter in which the suspect, Jim Adkisson, described his feelings and motives, police said. Adkisson, 58, of Powell, Tennessee, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder in the shootings at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. The gunman killed two adults and wounded seven others before being overpowered by congregants, authorities said. The case is being investigated as a hate crime, police said. "It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred for the liberal movement," Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV told reporters on Monday. Authorities also discovered a letter from the state government telling Adkisson he was having his food stamps reduced or eliminated, police said. "He did express that frustration, that the liberal movement was getting more jobs," Owen said. "And he felt like he was being kept out of loop because of his age." Adkisson's resume indicates he had worked in mechanical engineering, police said. Owen said Adkisson apparently acted alone and chose the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church because of recent publicity about activities there that Adkisson considered liberal. "He indicated also in that letter that he expected to be there shooting people until the police arrived and he fully expected to be killed by the responding police," Owen said. One of the victims, Linda Kraeger, 61, died at a hospital several hours after the shooting, Knoxville municipal spokesman Randall Kenner said. Also killed was Greg McKendry, a 60-year-old usher and board member at the church, police said earlier in the day. Five others were hospitalized in either critical or serious condition, police said. Two other people hurt in the attack were treated and released, Owen said. Neighbors said Adkisson was quiet and kept to himself. "He never went anywhere. He never had anybody over. Just, it was really quiet. He rode a motorcycle and you know he would go out on the weekends on his motorcycle, but other than that, you never heard from him," Melissa Coker told WVLT-TV. Coker told The Associated Press that Adkisson had been a truck driver, but she didn't think he'd been working steadily in the past six months. "He's just a really, really nice guy," Coker told the AP. Adkisson's landlord said she did not know him well enough to make any comments on his character but said he was a good tenant who paid his bills, according to CNN affiliate WBIR-TV. Church member Barbara Kemper told the AP that McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us." Owen told reporters he couldn't comment on whether McKendry confronted the gunman, but he said McKendry apparently "was the first person [the gunman] encountered" in the sanctuary. Members of the church said a man entered the building about 10:15 a.m. and began shooting during a children's production of the musical "Annie." About 200 people in the church were watching the production, which was being put on by 25 children, the AP reported. No child was shot, and a few church members subdued the man and held him until officers arrived, police said. Church members said one of the tacklers was John Bohstedt, a man who had a part in the musical, the AP reported. "This was a day the church was looking forward to for a long time, and it turned into a nightmare," Bohstedt told WBIR-TV. Ken Kitts said he arrived late and saw a couple and a child running out of the church at "super-fast speed." "Then everybody else started pouring out of the church, lots of them in costume from this show they were putting on," he said. Inside, he said, was a scene of "absolute chaos," including wounded people and the gunman, who was pinned to the floor by church members. "He was face down in the middle of a bunch of shotgun shells rolling around on the floor," Kitts said. Bail was set at $1 million late Sunday. "We don't know this particular individual. We may never know why," said Steve Drevik, a church member who arrived after the shooting. "All of this will come out in the next couple of days." The church, on its Web site, describes itself as a community that has worked for social change -- including desegregation, women's rights and gay rights -- since the 1950s. Police said people were recording videos of the children's performance when the shooting happened, and investigators were reviewing the videos. Information on what, if anything, the videos show of the shooting wasn't immediately available. The church's minister, Chris Buice, said he was on vacation when the shooting happened but rushed back when he heard what occurred. Sunday afternoon, after McKendry's death but before Kraeger's, he spoke briefly to reporters. "Please pray for this congregation, because we are grieving the loss of a wonderful man," Buice said as he choked back tears.
What a f***ing lunatic. Liberals keep him from working so he goes and shoots up a church DURING A KIDS PLAY? The liberal movement was getting more jobs? What the hell does that even mean? There are days where my faith in mankind is severely tested. This is one of them.
Not questioning that humanity is totally at fault here, but I can't help but wonder how long it will be before the US government finally relents on the archaic American "Right to bear arms". People with guns kill people.
no doubting the lack of humanity here either. but people with guns don't kill people. there are millions of law abiding citizens (myself included) who do not use weapons for demonic, senseless, random acts of violence. i have every right to defend myself, my family and my property from a thug. what am i to do if i am sleeping and someone breaks into my house? throw a bar of soap at him? nope. i will kill him w/o thinking twice, especially taking into consideration my 1 year old daughter is in the next room. take away the right to bear arms and people will just resort to other means of deadly force.
I wasn't saying everyone with guns kills people - not at all. But how many people have to get gunned down before the government at least TRIES to do something about it. You contradicted yourself in saying 'what am I going to do in the event of someone breaking into your house - throwing soap at them?' (maybe try a baseball bat!) - and then saying if guns are restricted 'people will just resort to other means of deadly force.' And what if the guy breaking in has a gun? What then? Maybe if more stringent gun laws were in place, he wouldn't. The thing about guns over other deadly weapons is that you just don't stand a chance.
the gov't has made laws to restrict who can and can't have a gun. often times in these cases the the person committing these hanus crimes, wasn't supposed to have a gun and probably obtained one illegally. 'and what if the guy breaking in has a gun?' what then?' that is exactly why I should be allowed to bear arms. and do so.
walking into a church to shoot people because you disagree with their theology and philosophy?? hmmmm....
dude bought his gun at a pawn shop. i dont think he had any priors... seems like he was in a tough financial situation and just lost it. still no excuse. americans have a right to bear arms but all these cases of psychos killing innocent people randomly... no priors... obtained guns legally through a pawn shop/gun show... maybe we need some tighter restrictions. im not saying take guns away. americans have that right under the constitution. but we seriously need to look at tightening restrictions bc the current system doesnt seem to be working.
I actually met a very attractive German au pair from Knoxville, they're not all psychos. UT sucks though
