Authorities on Monday were investigating why an apparent stranger entered a Unitarian church and opened fire during a children's performance based on the musical "Annie," killing two, including a burly usher hailed as a hero for shielding others from gunfire. No children were hurt, but seven adults were wounded as frightened congregants dove under pews and ran from Sunday's shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, authorities said. Witnesses said some of the men present tackled a man who pulled a shotgun from a guitar case before at least three loud blasts rang out.
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, has been charged with first-degree murder and was being held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner. Church members praised Greg McKendry, 60, who died as he attempted to block the gunfire. Church member Barbara Kemper said that McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us." "Greg McKendry was a very large gentleman, one of those people you might describe as a refrigerator with a head," said church member Schera Chadwick. "He looked like a football player. He did obviously stand up and put himself in between the shooter and the congregation."
A second victim was identified as Linda Kraeger, 61. She died at a hospital hours later, Kenner said. Five others remained hospitalized Monday in critical and serious condition. Two others were treated and released Sunday. The gunman's motive was not known, but Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire. "It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things," she said, refusing to elaborate.
The FBI was assisting in case the shooting turned out be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said. Police said they would hold a news conference Monday morning. The church promotes progressive social work, including advocacy of women and gay rights. The Knoxville congregation also has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.
Karen Massey, a neighbor to Adkisson, told the Knoxville News Sentinel about a lengthy conversation she had with Adkisson a few years back in which she told him her daughter had just graduated from a bible college. She said she was surprised by his reaction when she told him she was a Christian. "He almost turned angry," she told the newspaper. "He seemed to get angry at that. He said that everything in the Bible contradicts itself if you read it." She also said Adkisson spoke frequently about his parents, who "made him go to church all his life. ... He acted like he was forced to do that."
Authorities searched Adkisson's duplex in a Knoxville suburb Sunday night and collected statements from witnesses and video from those using cameras to record the performance. The shooting started as about 200 people watched a show put on by 25 children. Church member Mark Harmon said he was in the first row when he heard "an incredibly loud bang." He said he thought the noise was part of the play, then he heard another loud bang and saw a woman bleeding behind him as he dove for cover.
"It seems so unreal," Harmon said. His wife told him she saw the gunman pulling the shotgun out of a guitar case. Witnesses reported hearing about three blasts from the .12-gauge shotgun and said they didn't recognize the gunman. Church members said one of the people who tackled the gunman was John Bohstedt, who played "Daddy Warbucks" in the performance. The church's minister rushed back from a vacation in North Carolina to be with his congregation. "We've been touched by a horrible act of violence," the Rev. Chris Buice said in a statement. "We are in a process of healing and we ask everyone for your prayers."
Other Unitarian congregations in the area held tearful services after the tragedy. At a packed Westside Unitarian Universalist Church in suburban Farragut, congregants prayed, sang songs and consoled each other. The shooting follows a December 2007 spree in which a man shot four staff members at a missionary training center near Denver, Colo., killing two, after being told he couldn't spend the night. About 12 hours later and 65 miles away in Colorado Springs, police say the 24-year-old man fatally shot a parishioner at a megachurch and wounded four others before killing himself.
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