Religon may have not been a factor in this. The church is located on the bussiest street in town and close to some trouble areas. A few months back a man was for no reasons shot and killed at a local resturant. The perp was later found and killed about a mile from this church. That section of Kingston Pike gets all kinds of traffic including local street people going from downtown to West Knoxville to eat. There is also a can handle anything state mental hospital close by. Just saying religon may not have been the target here.
No way to know yet, until and if the police release information they develop in their investigation.
However it was surely preplanned. Most folks, even criminals, don't carry a loaded shotgun around with them, these days. Even though in some places, maybe they should.
I don't know about you, but I use gun cases, of various sorts, to transport my long arms.
Must have been a fairly short shotgun. Maybe even one modified into an untaxed NFA weapon? If so, one more gun law that never saved anyone.
Even if religion were a factor, I question whether you can draw any conclusions from the particular religious doctrine of the church. The perp may have simply been targeting “a church.” He may not have had any idea what the church stood for.