Tenn. church shooting wounded improving
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - July 29, 2008 Jim D. Adkisson, 58, an out-of-work trucker, is accused of
killing two people and wounding six others during a children's
musical at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Sunday morning. Children on Monday ended the service by singing,
"The sun will come out tomorrow," a line from the signature song
from that musical, "Annie."
A four-page letter found in Adkisson's SUV indicated he picked
the church for the attack because, the Knoxville police chief said,
"he hated the liberal movement" of the congregation.
Three people who were shot were in 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.
An overflow crowd of more than 1,000 people attended the
memorial service at the Second Presbyterian Church next door.
"We're here tonight to make sense of the senseless," the Rev.
William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist
Association of Congregations, told the gathering.
About 200 people were watching 25 children perform when
authorities said Adkisson entered and fired three blasts from a
semiautomatic shotgun. 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.
Adkisson's ex-wife once belonged to the church but hadn't
attended in years, said Ted Jones, the congregation's president.
Police spokesman Darrell DeBusk declined to comment on whether
investigators think the ex-wife's link was a factor in the attack.
Adkisson, who had been on the verge of losing his food stamps,
remained jailed Tuesday on $1 million bond after being charged with
one count of murder. More charges are expected.
The attack Sunday morning lasted only minutes. But the anger
behind it may have been building for months, if not years.
"It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was
his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that,
and his stated hatred for the liberal movement," Knoxville Police
Chief Sterling Owen said of Adkisson.
A police affidavit used to get a search warrant for Adkisson's
home said the suspect admitted to the shooting.
Adkisson "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.
Adkisson was a loner who hates "blacks, gays and anyone
different from him," longtime acquaintance Carol Smallwood of
Alice, Texas, told the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Authorities said Adkisson's criminal record consisted of only
two drunken driving citations. But court records reviewed by The
Associated Press show that his former wife obtained an order of
protection in March 2000 while the two were still married and
living in the Knoxville suburb of Powell.
The couple had been married for nearly 10 years when Liza
Alexander wrote in requesting the order that Adkisson threatened
"to blow my brains out and then blow his own brains out." She
told a judge she feared for her life.
Calls to Alexander's home were not answered Monday, and the
voice mailbox was full.
In Adkisson's letter, which police have not released, "he
indicated ... that he expected to be in there (the church) shooting
people until the police arrived and that he fully expected to be
killed by the responding police," Owen said.
Witnesses said the attack stopped when audience members tackled
the gunman.
The Unitarian Universalist church advocates women's rights and
gay rights and has provided sanctuary for political refugees. It
also has fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American
Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.
Adkisson told authorities he had no next of kin or family. He
lived about a 20-minute drive from the Unitarian church - one of
three in the Knoxville area.
The police chief said Adkisson bought the shotgun at a pawn shop
about a month ago, and he wrote the letter in the last week or so.
A .38-caliber handgun was found in his home.
Jamie Parkey crawled under the pews with his daughter and mother
when the second and third shots were fired. He saw several men rush
the suspect.
"I jumped up to join them," he told AP Television News. "When
I got there, they were already wrestling with him. The gun was in
the air. Somebody grabbed the gun and we just kind of dog-piled him
to the floor. I knew a police suppression hold, and I sat on him
until police came."
Owen said police would not release several videos of the
performance by audience members or Adkisson's letter until they
have been analyzed for evidence.
Adkisson, who is due in court Aug. 5, was on active duty with
the Army beginning in 1974. Army records show he was a helicopter
repairman, rising from a private to specialist and then returning
to private before being discharged in late 1977.
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Associated Press Writer Duncan Mansfield in Knoxville
contributed to this story.
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On the Net: http://www.tvuuc.org
