Ex-Mormon shot Calif. bishop, brother says (update) [ECUMENICAL]

UPI ^ | 8/30/2010

[markomalley]

VISALIA, Calif., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A California man who died in a gun battle with police after fatally shooting a Mormon Church bishop felt wronged by another church bishop, his brother said.

Police identified Kenneth James Ward, 47, of Modesto, Calif., as the man who shot to death Bishop Clay Sannar, 42, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Visalia Sunday before dying in a shootout with police less than 2 miles away, the Visalia Times-Delta reported.

Mike Ward of Bakersfield told the newspaper his older brother Kenneth took their grandfather's handgun and shot Sannar, a father of six, because he believed he had been "shunned to hell" by another bishop in 1988.

That could explain why Ward walked asked for a "bishop" or "president" when he walked into the church and shot Sannar, his brother said, but Kenneth did not know Sannar.

After shooting Sannar, Ward called police, then led officers to his childhood home, where he was killed by officers.

Visalia Police Capt. Rick Haskill said Sannar was shot several times, the Deseret News in Salt Lake City reported.

[lady lawyer]

You’re right. There has been an effort here to link this to Prop. 8. But, for now, there is absolutely no evidence of a connection. The article quotes the brother saying the shooter was mentally ill. It could have been some mental illness other than homosexuality. (And, yes, I know about the APA’s purely political vote. It was ridiculous.)

[kcvl]

Kenneth James Ward

the shooter's brother Mike Ward said that Kenneth had been a member of the LDS faith in the 1980s, but felt 'shunned to hell' by a bishop. Mike Ward said thier family was raised LDS, and that they used to attend church in the same building where the shooting took place.

Mike Ward, a brother of the shooter, told reporters that Kenneth Ward was mentally ill and believed the Mormon church was "out to get him."

Bishop Clay Sannar

Sannar was called by the church to be bishop just four months ago. He was a man of faith, and a father of six.

Jordan said, “Just a few months ago he had his sixth baby boy”.

[BlueMoose]

11:06 a.m.: A man who identified himself as Mike Ward, a brother of the shooter, told reporters that Kenneth Ward was mentally ill and believed the Mormon church was “out to get him.”

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/29/2058190/shooting-reported-at-visalia-mormon.html#ixzz0y7rQagnW

[colorcountry]

He doesn't look gay.

(of course I am being facetious)

[lady lawyer]

That’s true. The beard isn’t neat enough.

[Tennessee Nana]

he believed he had been “shunned to hell” by another bishop in 1988.
____________________________________________

Poor man...

thats awful...

[Ripliancum]

Good link. Tells a lot more about the back story.

[Paragon Defender]

Apparently that particuliar Mormon church didn’t “love this guy all the more, until he returned to that group”...

---

You have no idea. They may have done all they possibly could and his mental illness kept him from straightening himself out. Your reply statement hints as accusatory to me.

[Paragon Defender]

Yes that link has more info thanks.

[Ripliancum]

A couple things that stuck our from the story:

The man who shot and killed a Mormon church leader Sunday in Visalia suffered from mental illness and did not know his victim, the gunman's brother said today. Kenneth James Ward “was a lovable guy, but that monster would overtake him,” Mike Ward said. “He had mental problems and he struggled with them...

He said his brother was diagnosed with mental illness — he declined to be more specific — about 10 years ago. When Kenneth Ward was on his medication he was fine, but when he didn't take his medication he would go through episodes, Mike Ward said....

During the episodes, Kenneth Ward would express anger toward the church, his brother said. Mike Ward said there were no physical or sexual abuse or other incidents that might explain why Kenneth Ward would be angry toward the church. Kenneth Ward was excommunicated from the church but regained his membership in the late 1980s and believed in the church's tenets, Mike Ward said. He said he didn't believe the excommunication was a cause of the shooting. Ward said, however, that his brother had not attended church in recent years. There was no connection between the Sannar and Ward families before Sunday's shooting

[Ripliancum]

It sounds like schizophrenia to me. About half of those cases tend to lean strongly to religious issues.

[colorcountry]

Do you have a link for this? I would like to read the entire article.

Thanks

[Ripliancum]

It was posted above.

[colorcountry]

I’m sorry I didn’t see it. Can you give me the post #?

[Ripliancum]

BlueMoose, #23

[colorcountry]

Oh yes. I followed your comments upthread and didn’t see that this was in response to #23. Thanks.

[Ripliancum]

yw

[colorcountry]

This is interesting:

2:10 p.m.: The father of Kenneth Ward, the shooting suspect, said his son had bipolar disorder and had animosity for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which the suspect is a former member.

“He was definitely anti-Mormon and yet he was raised in it,” George Ward told the Modesto Bee. “I don’t understand how that happened.”

George Ward said his son took medication that controlled the symptoms of his mental disorder.

Early Sunday, Kenneth Ward left the Modesto home where he lived with his wife and 6-year-old son, telling his father he was going fishing with a friend. When the father called the friend later that day, the friend said he knew nothing about a fishing trip.

George Ward said his son, the oldest of three children, served in the first Persian Gulf war against Iraq, and believes his loud and erratic behavior after returning home was caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/29/2058190/shooting-reported-at-visalia-mormon.html#ixzz0y879sWS3

[ansel12]

There is nothing anyone can do to stop all of these nut cases, and getting God and religion mixed all up in their heads is common. We may as well look into which brand of frozen pizza he buys as to which church he has some tenuous connection with. That hearing of God telling them to murder all the kids and so on is their own little trip.

[Ripliancum]

Agreed.

I have a family member who is schizophrenic, and he can get violent when he’s not on his meds. For him, everything is about religion.