Marcus Wayne Chenault
Alberta Williams King
Posted on 01/20/2020 12:16:08 PM PST by lowbridge
The sad event occurred on June 30, 1974, about six years after her son was killed.
It was a Sunday, and Mrs King and her family were at their Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., which was headed by her husband, Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.
King Sr. was not at church that day. Mrs. King was reportedly elated that she would be playing a new organ the church had just received.
In front of about 500 congregants, the 69-year-old began playing the organ for the Lord’s Prayer while the congregation bowed their heads in prayer. That was when the attack began.
A young man later identified as Marcus Wayne Chenault jumped from a pew and yelled: “I’m taking over here!…I’m tired of all this!”
He then drew two pistols and “for the next 90 seconds fired wildly and continuously, hitting Mrs. King, another elderly woman parishioner, and a 69-year-old church deacon, Mr Edward Boykin,” The Guardian reported.
Mrs. King and Boykin died from the gunshot wounds but the other member survived.
Chenault, a then 23-year-old Ohio State dropout, was wrestled to the ground by bystanders while attempting to reload, yelling constantly about “the war.”
“He was delirious. He appeared to be in a fever. He said over and over, ‘The war did this to me. It’s the war,'” Mrs. King’s grandson, Derek, said at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at face2faceafrica.com ...
That sounds like murder, not assassination.
Good thing Samuel L Jackson wasn’t involved.
How weird. I was in Jr. High at the time and I don’t remember hearing about that at all. Was that about the time the Fake News Media of the day was so focused on running Nixon out of office that no other news mattered?
Still sad.
Marcus was black. That’s why you don’t hear about it.
I think this may be the reason this murder was “forgotten”. From Wikipedia:
Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, at age 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old black man from Ohio who had adopted an extremist version of the theology of the Black Hebrew Israelites.[4] Chenault’s mentor, Rev. Hananiah E. Israel of Cincinnati, castigated black civil rights activists and black church leaders as being evil and deceptive, but claimed in interviews not to have advocated violence.[5] Chenault did not draw any such distinction, and actually first decided to assassinate Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago, but canceled the plan at the last minute. Two weeks later he set out for Atlanta, where he shot Alberta King with two handguns as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Chenault said that he shot King because “all Christians are my enemies,” and claimed that he had decided that black ministers were a menace to black people. He said his original target had been Martin Luther King, Sr., but he had decided to shoot his wife instead because she was near him. He also killed one of the church’s deacons, Edward Boykin, in the attack, and wounded another woman.
Alberta King was interred at the South View Cemetery in Atlanta. Martin Luther King, Sr., died of a heart attack on November 11, 1984, at age 84 and was interred next to her.
Conviction and sentencing
Chenault was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The sentence was upheld on appeal, but he was later resentenced to life in prison, partially as a result of the King family’s opposition to the death penalty. On August 3, 1995, he suffered a stroke, and was taken to a hospital, where he died at age 44 of complications from his stroke on August 19.[6][7]
Probably why the media “forgot” about it.
Did they ever find out who sent him on that mission?
I’m leaning towards believing in the “Manchurian Candidate” theory of political actions.
Alberta Williams King
i was alive then, and remember several days of intense coverage.
Wow...what a geek.
Consider this from Wikipedia:
“Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, at age 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old black man from Ohio who had adopted an extremist version of the theology of the Black Hebrew Israelites. Chenault’s mentor, Rev. Hananiah E. Israel of Cincinnati, castigated black civil rights activists and black church leaders as being evil and deceptive,... Chenault said that he shot King because “all Christians are my enemies,” and claimed that he had decided that black ministers were a menace to black people. He said his original target had been Martin Luther King, Sr., {but Alberta King was nearby]”. He had considered Jesse Jackson as a target previously. Chenault was convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to the d.p., later resentenced to life. Fortunately he had a stroke and his life ended in 1995.
If the distinction of murder versus assassination rests on a personal v. ideological motive, this horrific crime was an assassination.
Forgotten? Gee, I wonder why the media doesn’t mention it every year. Couldn’t be because the killer was black, could it? Nah, that couldn’t be, it wouldn’t fit the narrative.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Marcus+Wayne+Chenault&source=lnms
What an evil little creep. I didn’t know about this. I’m sorry the King family had yet another senseless killing to suffer through.
Never, EVER name your kid Wayne.
Still had the middle name Wayne.... Hmmmm.
Another KKK, white racist that loved Trump. Wait...what? Never mind.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.