Yea though I walk through the shadows of political polarization and psychotic nutbars, I will fear no gunfire in the house of the Lord.
[quote=“Washington Post”]An unemployed man accused of opening fire with a shotgun and killing two people at a Unitarian church apparently targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal social policies, police said Monday.
Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV said a letter had been been recovered from the SUV of Jim D. Adkisson, 58, by investigators seeking clues about the motive behind the attack. Authorities said he was an apparent stranger to the Tennessee church where gunfire punctuated a children’s performance based on the musical “Annie.” Two people were killed and seven wounded Sunday.
“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 of the liberal movement,” Owen said at a news conference.
No children were hurt, but five people remained in serious or critical condition Monday. A burly usher who died is being hailed as a hero for shielding others from gunfire Sunday at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Witnesses said some of the men present tackled a man who pulled a shotgun from a guitar case before at least three blasts rang out.
[…]
Unitarians have roots in a movement that rejected Puritan orthodoxy in New England. Although the outlook and beliefs of individual Unitarian churches can vary dramatically, most congregations retain a deep commitment to social justice, which has led them to embrace liberal positions over the years. Unitarians were among the first to ordain women, support the civil rights movement and back gay rights.
The shooting started as about 200 people watched a show put on by 25 children.
[…]
The police chief said the shotgun was bought at a pawn shop about a month ago and Adkisson wrote the letter in the last week or so. But he added: “I am sure this is something that has been building a long time in terms of his anger.”
He said the state recently sent a letter to Adkisson telling him food stamps he had been receiving would be reduced or eliminated.
[…]
Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire, though police said others didn’t recall him saying anything.
“It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things,” she said, refusing to elaborate. [/quote]
Sounds the same as any other school, church or shopping mall shooting in America. Beaten down, lonely, depressed, pathetic, misfit, loser is sick and tired of struggling with his day-to-day existence, sick and tired of all those who appear to be happy and oblivious to his pain, and decides to go out in a “blaze of glory”, taking down with him those who had the audacity to be happy when he was so obviously suffering. Mental illness and guns are a lethal combination. Only in America is it so easy for so many nutcases to walk into any pawn shop and purchase a gun.
Police: Man Shot Churchgoers Over Liberal Views
[i]“KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – An out-of-work truck driver accused of opening fire at a Unitarian church, killing two people, left behind a note suggesting that he targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal policies, including its acceptance of gays, authorities said Monday.”
"The attack Sunday morning lasted only minutes. But the anger behind it may have been building for months, if not years.
“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,” Police Chief Sterling Owen said.
Adkisson was a loner who hates “blacks, gays and anyone different from him,” longtime acquaintance Carol Smallwood of Alice, Texas, told the newspaper.
Authorities said Adkisson’s criminal record consisted of only two drunken driving citations. But court records reviewed by The Associated Press show that his former wife obtained an order of protection in March 2000 while the two were still married and living in the Knoxville suburb of Powell.
Alexander wrote in requesting the order that Adkisson threatened “to blow my brains out and then blow his own brains out.” She told a judge that she was “in fear for my life and what he might do.”
Calls to the home of the ex-wife, Liza Alexander, were not answered Monday, and the voice mailbox was full.
In Adkisson’s letter, which police have not released, “he indicated … that he expected to be in there (the church) shooting people until the police arrived and that he fully expected to be killed by the responding police,” Owen said. “He certainly intended to take a lot of casualties.”
"The Unitarian-Universalist church advocates for women’s rights and gay rights and has provided sanctuary for political refugees. It also has fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.
Owen said authorities believe the suspect had gone to the Unitarian church because of “some publicity in the recent past regarding its liberal stance on things.”[/i]
A very sick man. A Terrible act of hate and desperation.
It appears that he had planned this as a ‘suicide by cop’ action. He expected to die in this rampage.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]A very sick man. A Terrible act of hate and desperation.
It appears that he had planned this as a ‘suicide by cop’ action. He expected to die in this rampage.[/quote]
Reports now say that the police executed a search warrant on his house, and found Liberalism is a Mental Disorder by radio talk show host Michael Savage, Let Freedom Ring by talk show host Sean Hannity, and The O’Reilly Factor, by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly."
Act of desperation? If I had to read books by Savage, Hannity and O’Reilly, I’d use the shotgun on myself.
I was, for a while, a long time ago, in my teen years, about 1969-71. I was an LRY-er, too, at that time. I don’t remember how good (or bad) my attendance was, though.
