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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=5460721

Police: Man Shot Churchgoers Over Liberal Views
Police: Suspect's letter indicates Tenn. church targeted for shooting because of liberal views
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

Knoxville's police chief says the man accused of a shooting that killed two people at a Tennessee church targeted the congregation because of its liberal social stance.

Chief Sterling Owen IV said Monday that police found a letter in Jim D. Adkisson's car. Owen said Adkisson was apparently frustrated over being out of work and had a "stated hatred of the liberal movement."

Adkisson is charged with first-degree murder. Police say a gunman entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church during a children's performance Sunday. No children were hurt.

The church is known for advocating women's and gay rights and founding an American Civil Liberties Union chapter.

FULL story -- because no children were shot, but TWO ADULTS were!!! -- plus several others injured.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/2...tpop_story

Two Dead In Tenn. Church Shooting
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 27, 2008(CBS/AP) It was supposed to be the highlight of Sunday service at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church -- a performance of "Annie" by church member children just finished with music camp. But as CBS Evening News correspondent Bianca Solorzano reports, the singing was silenced by deadly gunfire.A gunman opened fire at the church youth performance Sunday, killing two people, including a man witnesses called a hero for shielding others from a shotgun blast.

Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the church. Members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started.

Congregants tackled the gunman.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged with first-degree murder and held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if Adkisson had an attorney.

The slain man was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper told The Associated Press that McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us."

Linda Kraeger, 61, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center a few hours after the shooting, Kenner said.

Five people remained hospitalized, all in critical or serious condition. Two others were treated and released.

The gunman's motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.

"It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things," she said, but refused to elaborate.

The FBI was assisting in case the shooting turned out be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said. Police were taking statements from witnesses and collecting video cameras from church members who taped the performance.

Authorities searched Adkisson's duplex in the Knoxville suburb of Powell on Sunday night. A bomb squad was called in as a precaution.

"In a situation like this we're not taking any chances," police Lt. Doug Stiles said. Police refused to provide any details about what they found.

The shooting started as about 200 people watched 25 children perform a show based on the musical "Annie."

Church member Mark Harmon said he was in the first row. "It had barely begun when there was an incredibly loud bang," he said.

Harmon said he thought the noise was part of the play, then he heard a second loud bang. As he dove for cover, he realized a woman behind him was bleeding. She looked like she was in shock, touching her wound, he said.

"It seems so unreal," Harmon said. "You're sitting in church, you're watching a children's performance of a play and suddenly you hear a bang."

Harmon said church members just behind him in the second and third rows were shot. His wife told him that she saw the gunman pull the shotgun out of a guitar case.

Witnesses reported hearing about three blasts from the 12-gauge shotgun. Witnesses said they did not recognize the gunman.

Church members said the gunman was tackled by John Bohstedt, who played "Daddy Warbucks" in the performance. He declined comment when reached by phone at his home.

Quote: Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the church.

God, I hate that "no children were harmed" crap!

So how does open fire solve this man's issue. Killing a couple liberals isn't going to wipe them off the planet and make everyone convert to your ways. Man, having that kind of hatred toward a group of people must be very draining and time-consuming. Not to mention the kind of person it made him. Must suck to be like that. Now he can rot in jail!

Sadly, there are a lot of people like him out there.

(And most do not espouse "evil, liberal" views.)

Jen M.

Dana Wrote:So how does open fire solve this man's issue. Killing a couple liberals isn't going to wipe them off the planet and make everyone convert to your ways. Man, having that kind of hatred toward a group of people must be very draining and time-consuming. Not to mention the kind of person it made him. Must suck to be like that. Now he can rot in jail!

The amount of anger and rage some of these fundies have is appalling. They don't believe in liberals, but they do believe in cold-blooded murder?

By this guy's standard I should have gotten a gun and shot up a church because of my disgust with the fundies and the neo-cons they supported? What kind of fucked up thinking is that? I can't imagine shooting someone because of their political beliefs let alone while they are someplace that should be a safe haven like a place of worship.

IMO, that is a "fundamental" (no pun intended) difference between liberal and ultra-conservative thought. I can't really elaborate on why I think that way, but I almost never (I don't think I have EVER heard) hear about a person who is a Liberal shooting people or committing hate crimes.

I'm sure it's happened somewhere, but I think it's probably rare. I think we are looking at different psychological processes, but I can't elaborate further than that without doing some research.

It IS apalling, though. It's embarrassing, really...I would THINK...

Jen M.

Bittercat Wrote:IMO, that is a "fundamental" (no pun intended) difference between liberal and ultra-conservative thought. I can't really elaborate on why I think that way, but I almost never (I don't think I have EVER heard) hear about a person who is a Liberal shooting people or committing hate crimes.

I'm sure it's happened somewhere, but I think it's probably rare. I think we are looking at different psychological processes, but I can't elaborate further than that without doing some research.

Um...ever heard of the Baader-Meinhof Gang? The Symbionese Liberation Army? The Weather Underground?

No, I had not. Thanks for pointing them out.

I'm disgusted to see how some fundies can be hypocrites. You know they preach a culture of life, they want to ban abortion because they consider it murder. That's until someone go against their views then it's justified.