Posted on 10/04/2002 12:01:08 PM PDT by testforecho
Prayer Book Turns Aside Shooting-Spree Bullet
By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Capital News Service
WHEATON - The first bullet fired in a shooting spree that killed five people in Montgomery County Wednesday and Thursday, narrowly missed Ann Chapman, who was working at Michaels arts and crafts store in Northgate Shopping Center.
It's a miracle no one was hurt after the bullet cut a dime-size hole in the display window, nicked a light fixture, pierced two posterboard signs and hit a metal rack holding rows of mini-books at 5:20 p.m. Wednesday.
But the amazing thing is what the bullet stopped next to, the store's employees said: a book called "Inspiration for the Heart from the Prayer of Jabez," by Bruce Wilkinson.
The book flap says, "A simple daily prayer from the heart can inspire you to seek God's constant favor, power, and protection."
The bullet has not been recovered.
Chapman, 43, points above a display of autumn bouquets. The bullet hole is obvious.
The one-year Michael's employee was standing just a few feet from the window when she heard a loud bang.
"I had just gotten rid of a customer. I thought a light bulb blew up," Chapman said.
When she saw smoke, her next thought was that the computers had started malfunctioning. She never thought about a bullet until she saw the hole.
"Our first concern is for our associates and customers that are affected by this," Michaels corporate spokesman Tom Clary said. "We are shaken a little bit and we have some concern. We are doing everything we can."
Many of the Aspen Hill store's high school and part-time workers were shaken up by the incident and were allowed to take Thursday off, Clary said. For the most part, however, the store kept its normal routine.
"Right now we are trying to conduct business as usual," he said. "This appears to be... a random firing into a store."
Michaels The Arts and Crafts Store is headquartered in Texas. It has about 600 stories in 48 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Capital News Service reporter Hattie Brown contributed to this report.
Hmmm....I think we have a suspect.
Yup. Lucky that she was indoors and that the shooter didn't know about bullets and glass.
The suspect seems to be close to a "one shot, one kill" shooter, but didn't on this occassion.
First attempt. Notice he hasn't tried a shot through plate glass since?
That quotation caught my eye and has nothing to do with the valuable message the article was intended to convey.
As a customer I had never really thought of it that way. I thought the idea was to attract customers, not to get rid of them. "I had just finished the customers business" would be far more charming. However, I expect it is good to know these things as they are instead of how I imagined they are.
Huh?
AHA!!
Yup, the "health and wealth" Gospel.
And now it's getting itself shot at.
Yeah, this story doesn't make much sense -- how did the bullet "stop next to" this book, if the bullet hasn't been recovered?
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