Posted on 07/27/2008 8:43:01 AM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
11:29 am
Steve Drevik says the suspect isn't believed to have any connection to the church.
11:19 am
Steve Drevik, a member of the TVUU Church spoke to media outside the church building, where media are assembled.
He says the suspect is now in custody.
Drevik says the shooting happened during a regular service, as children of the church were performing music from Annie for parishioners.
A man with long blond hair, who appeared to be in his 40s, walked into the sanctuary and opened fiire with a shotgun, shooting indiscriminately.
At least six or seven people were hit by the gunfire. They have been transported to UT Medical Center. Two are believed to be in serious condition.
No children are believed to have been hit by the gunfire.
Some of the children were taken next door to Second Presbyterian Church for shelter.
Numerous KPD officers are on the scene.
11:00 am
Multiple people have suffered gunshot wounds in what witnesses describe as a mass shooting inside a church in West Knoxville Sunday morning.
The shootings happened at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church on Kingston Pike.
A witness who spoke to 10 News said police had arrived and one person was being detained at the scene.
A children's production of "Annie" was taking place as part of the normal Sunday service at the time of the shooting, the witness, who is a member of the church, said. The gunman walked into a packed sanctuary and opened fire.
The number of people shot and the extent of their injuries has not been confirmed, but the witness said he saw at least five people shot.
Church members heard a loud boom during the church service, which began around 10:15 a.m., the witness said. Several other loud booms followed, and the witness said the gunman seemed to be shooting randomly across a row of people. Two congregants tackled the gunman, he said.
Many people fled to the Second Presbyterian Church after the shooting, and that church was placed on lockdown, according to a 10 News crew at the scene. People have since been allowed to return to the Unitarian church building, where police are questioning witnesses.
Stay with WBIR for the very latest on this rapidly developing story.
And it could be someone with serious mental issues. Whatever.... it ain’t good.
I’m one of half a dozen (including the Pastor!) in our small congreation who are CCW holders and CERTAIN to be armed 100% of the time. This guy would have “possibly” gotten off a round before somebody in my group popped him, but I doubt he would have wounded half a dozen people. It’s hard to say though with a shotgun.
“Jesus Christ. The UUs deny the deity of Christ — that He is not God and Savior, but only a good man and teacher. They claim that the apostles and other Christian writers added to the Scriptures the teachings concerning Christ’s atonement for sin.”
Yep. Doesn’t sound to me like this is a Christian church.
Jest another fool proving that keyboard and internet access supersedes discernment and ability to stay on topic.
There will be more of these, no doubt.
While fascinating, it has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand.
Not in Knoxville!
IIRC, when our Lord told a story about this (the kingdom of Heaven), both those who got in and those who did not get in were surprised.
Folding stock, pistol grip, a hacksaw or all three .......
Bad deal regardless.
Stay safe !
This is Obama’s childhood church (Unitarian in Wash. state) that gramps took him to. I wonder who the shooter is.
“He looked like bad guy.” Kemper said.
Sounds like a "Republican".
Well the police are having a press conference now in Knoxville. The Knoxville police have recovered a letter in which the alleged shooter at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Jim Adkisson, says that he was angry and upset that he was unable to obtain a job. He blamed the “liberal movement”.
A police spokesman said that the shooter expressed his “hatred for the liberal movement,” according to a 4-page letter found by the police in the shooter’s car. He expected to be killed by the police.
He was a former member of the 101st Airborne and had just been eliminated from food stamps. The 12-gauge shotgun used in this terrorist act was recovered by police. The shooter had 76 rounds which were recovered. He used three. He got it into the building by putting it in a guitar case and telling the greeters at the door that he was there as part of the show (how did he know that?)
The guy (who was apparently an officer of the “Church”) who was killed stepped in front of Atkinson and spread his arms as the shooter raise the shotgun aiming at the kids. Got the blast full in the chest but probably saved a life.
Three shots, two kills. Definitely Airborne training.
So, I wouldn't be so sure about that statement of yours. God will judge them, and he knows their hearts. I don't think any of us are qualified.
I heard that it was a “progressive church” that promoted homosexuality...and that figured into the reasoning of the shooter.
The police are investigating this incident as a hate crime. This does not fit the circumstances. If they investigate as a terror attack they would have a much better fit.
Mall brawl gang-related, mall evacuated
(Gang riots - North Carolina up to 300 involved)
WRAL.com | 7/27/08 | Anne Johnson/WRAL
Posted on 07/28/2008 8:00:00 AM PDT by dragnet2
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052508/posts
Yeah that was why I called him a “terrorist” - though who is he representing? People kicked off of food stamps?
Is so, he was in the wrong church. In this "worship service" a children's program was presenting a scene from "Annie" (presumably the musical based on Little Orphan Annie and not "Annie Hall", but with a Universalist Unitarian church you can't necessarily be too sure.)
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