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Shooting at Unitarian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee
By Julie | July 29, 2008
I have msn.com bookmarked as my homepage. I check it first thing in the morning to get my news. There, I discovered an article about the church shooting on Sunday in a Unitarian church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since then, I have tried to find as much news as possible on the shooting. Yesterday morning I checked the MSN homepage again. Prominently displayed were two, maybe even three articles about it I wanted to read. But I didn’t have time; my kids needed me. It wasn’t until this morning I had a chance to do much reading. But this morning the MSN homepage has nothing to say on the topic. Nothing. They did have an article about “campaign fashions” though; you know, analyzing Obama’s and McCain’s suits. (I refuse to read that!) Two people died from this shooting. Died! Several were injured, though I’m having a hard time finding that number. And MSN thinks the candidates’ suits are newsworthy.
I read one cnn.com article: 3 church shooting victims improving, hospital says
It states:
Three people who were shot were upgraded from critical to serious condition and a fourth was stable at Tennessee Medical Center, nursing supervisor Susan Wilson said Tuesday. Killed were Greg McKendry, 60, and Linda Kraeger, 61.
Still in the hospital were Jack Barnhart, 69, Linda Chavez, 41, and Tammy Sommers, all in serious condition, and Joe Barnhart, 76, who was stable, Wilson said. Two others who were shot were treated and released, and a seventh person was hurt diving under a pew, authorities have said.
The article tells a little more about the shooter, and what his motive was:
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, an out-of-work truck driver, is accused of killing two people and wounding six others during a children’s musical at the church Sunday morning.
A four-page letter found in Adkisson’s SUV indicated he picked the church because, the police chief said, “he hated the liberal movement.”
“Adkisson, who had been on the verge of losing his food stamps, “stated that he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country,” investigator Steve Still wrote.
About 200 people were watching 25 children perform Sunday when, authorities said, Adkisson entered and fired three blasts from the shotgun.
Adkisson planned to keep shooting until the police came, and then he would die. If he had gotten his way, most likely nearly everyone would have been killed before the police arrived. But the people in church that day had other ideas. A group rushed the shooter, got the gun and held him down until the police arrived. It reminds me of the courage shown by passengers in Flight #93 on 9-11.
So why did this happen? Because “they”, the “liberals” are ruining this country? Was walking into a building of unarmed people, while they watched innocent children preform on stage, and cornering them with a gun going to actually change things? Who was the bigger problem, the “liberals” or the shooter? Which actions are destroying the country: attending church, or shooting a group a of unarmed people? How was killing going to put our country on a fast track to getting fixed? Two innocent people are dead. The shooter is facing a trial soon. And if the media is barely reporting it, what did he accomplish? And who cares if someone has different views; that’s life, something we all have to deal with, without killing them!
So what has bumped this story from MSN’s homepage this morning? Here’s a few articles:
Can an Apple a Day Make you Healthier?
I need a new website to get my news from, one that will give me actual news. Any suggestions?
In the meantime, please pray for the Unitarian church in Knoxville, Tennessee, pray for healing of the injured, physically and emotionally, for peace for everyone who was present, for the children who witnessed hell in action. Pray these people will feel God’s love helping them through their nightmare. Pray that God will stop the next madman on the verge of carrying out these most senseless acts.
Topics: In the News, Pray for |
