Today a gunman opened fire at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville during a children's play. He got off several shots killing two and critically injuring seven (details have been sketchy despite all the coverage) before being tackled by church members and bound until police arrived only minutes later. According to reports, there were several acts of heroism.
I'm not really sure what to say about this right now but I feel I have to write something. I know several people (mentors, friends, and colleagues) who attend this Church, my SO and I lectured a youth group at this Church, and at the moment we don't who's physically hurt and who isn't. We do know that no children were hurt -- well physically anyway.
The Church itself is a pillar in the Knoxville community and the East Tennessee Progressive Community. We joke that almost half the professors in the Humanities and Social Sciences at UT attend there.
At the moment, no one knows why the gunman did what he did. He lived in Powell (one of Knoxville's divisions and a good drive from where the Church is located) and there are plenty of Churches there for him to shoot up. Neighbors described him as very nice but said he got angry one time when religion was brought up -- a neighbor mentioned to him that her daughter had graduated from Bible College and he went on a tirade about his parents forcing him to go Church. This neighbor still described him as very nice despite this -- probably thought he just had issues from childhood.
Another bit that has been added is that he called himself a "Confederate" and "believer in the Old South" but the neighbor had no idea what he meant by it. It may well be that this is a hate crime that combined the gunman's hatred for religion with some weird personal neo-confederate views. If so, TVUCC and all the DFH
's there who were always welcoming gays, and fighting for social justice and equality amongst those of different races and genders would make a good target for such a derangement.
You can read more about what happened (details are under constant update) here and here.
UPDATE: Looks like this is definitely a hate crime against liberals.
The search warrants indicate intense anger against liberal ideas.
"During the interview 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 a ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. Adkisson made statements that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them in to office. Adkisson stated that he had held these beliefs for about the last ten years. Adkisson made statements that he had pre-planned this shooting and had began writing the letter for the last week," the search warrant reads.
More here.
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I am very sorry to hear this.
May you, your family and the congregation find peace.
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
I heard about this on the morning news
incredibly sad.
Our condolences
The people who suffered through the attack, and you, will be very much in our thoughts.
If there is any way we can help, please let us know.
You were in my thoughts
as I read the NYT article on this.
Kudos to the history professor and others who showed courage, presence of mind, and a willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others.
I am so sorry for the suffering.
Policy not party!
Thanks gob
...and everyone, it's very much appreciated.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
Just horrible
My condolences to all involved. I am so sorry to hear about all this. And during a kid's presentation! Thank the Gods he was refused access to where the children were preparing for the show!
I want to say that no one needed to be armed to stop this man, the brave people that charged the man responsible were able to subdue and control the shooter armed only with their courage. None of the congregation needed a firearm to do this.
And also, the shooter was not able to kill himself. As is all too common in cases like this, the people committing the violence are such cowards that they kill themselves to avoid responsibility for their actions. I feel very ... good that this guy was not able to do himself in, that he will be held accountable for his cowardice.
Society as a whole needs more of these mass shooters to be held accountable to the law. The only positive thing I can see about this whole event is that the killer is alive and in police custody. His illogical hatred will be laid bare for all to see. I hope that his motivations will be seen as wrong by people that would emulate something like this.
My prayers are with the brave people that stood up to this coward: the ones that gave their life, the injured, the ones that protected others, and the ones that stopped this madness.
Please remain stationary to facilitate targeting.
This sounds like...
... an unusually progressive Southern church, far from one of those hellfire/brimstone places that pushes its parishoners' buttons.
It appears that the shooter was fueled on rightwing hate:
TVUUC is very Progressive
...and has had very few problems in the Knoxville Community even though they've run a gay program and other progressive programs. If this gives you any indication, the lecture we gave there was on alternative religions (wicca, neo-paganism, and magick). Knoxville is actually a *fairly* tolerant place when it comes to a lot of things and Churches are considered sacred even by the hellfire types. IOW, even the most hellfire of fundies kinda have the attitude that "I may not believe is they do but they've got that right and at least they're in church/synagogue," and are absolutely horrified by what happened. The really nutty ones that are pure hate and meanness are relegated to be by themselves or have congregations of 10 people on the outskirts.
The gunman it seems does have a connection to the Church through his ex-wife and it sounds as though he also likely has bipolar disorder (dark periods throughout his life filled with rage that lasted for weeks and followed by the nicest guy in the world/life of the party). He apparently blamed liberalism for everything and hated blacks and gays. One of my former colleagues is a lesbian minister at TVUCC. (sigh) Can you say Michael F'ing Savage + Bipolar + Joblessness = Mass Shooting? Yeah, I know that's overly broad but still.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
Tnjen, you hanging in?
Hope you are doing okay(ish.)
What an incredibly sad thing and how brave everyone was.
Yeah, I'm ok
...and thanks to everyone for your kind words. This is all just pretty shocking to everyone. KPD, finally released the names of the victims and thankfully no one we know personally was physically injured. Three members of the same family though were all sent to the hospital and one man has been blinded in his right eye (he already had PTSD from Vietnam). :( Most of the folks injured were visitors.
The Professor who was one of tacklers is married to one of my former professors from my undergraduate days. Mark Harmon, another UT professor, who also sits on Knox Co. Commission and is very active in the Knoxville progressive blogosphere was also there. We're still trying to find out who all was there. I'm particularly concerned about one of my former fellow grad students who was active there -- she worked with the youth groups there and has a daughter that would've likely been in the play.
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PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
TNJen, how horrible
I'm so sorry. How senseless and sick.
(I posted a music video before I saw this post; the contrast is a bit jarring I'm afraid).
Thanks and No worries
...on the vid BoGardiner. In context of the MoveOn vid, it's pretty funny. :)
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
Senseless and Tragic
My family and I are keeping you and the church community in our prayers and blessings.
TnJen -- I grieve with thee.
It's been about ten years since the last time I was a regular member of a congregation. But I can still see the faces of the children, and hear the voices of my friends in that church. For something like this to happen is devastating to a community.
May you be blessed with peace, and the families of the victims be blessed with love.
I read somewhere today that it was a good thing this gunman didn't succeed in killing himself to finish his errand. If what drove him to his deed Sunday was his illness, it is doubly tragic: we have a nation so focused on profits, it cannot care for its most vulnerable -- it's a shame, really, that we cannot find it in our hearts to take care of our children, our elderly, our veterans, our poor, and our mentally ill.
That said, I pray the congregation will be able to overcome this event, and grow stronger as a community.
We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Sending my thoughts and prayers east
Totally sensless. These things happen way too often, it seems.
Hope you and yours are doing OK this evening, TNJen.
...for the rest of us
...for the rest of us
Thanks everyone
The entire Knoxville area community is really pulling together well, all things considered. No one around here can stomach this sort of thing regardless of their political or religious affiliation and there appears to be a backlash brewing regarding the hateful rhetoric of some right wing pundits.
At any rate, unsurprisingly this was found in the gunman's home:
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
i'm relieved it
seems to be just a one-time, one-place one-sick guy thing--and that everyone there is fighting against hate.
take care : >
I always immediately flash to the serial/group/repeated abortion-clinic bombers, and doctor killers, and black church bombers, etc, when i hear of this kind of thing.
Liberalism for me but not for thee
You know what's wild? I just saw an article where it said Adkisson was on the verge of losing his food stamps. And he hated liberals...
...for the rest of us
...for the rest of us
Yeah I saw that too
It's all coming out in bits and pieces but my personal theory is that this guy was mentally disturbed (possibly bipolar), under economic stress, and latched on to right wing hatred as a solution to all his problems. He listened to Savage's rhetoric for years about how liberals are vermin that should be exterminated and he grew to believe it all -- everything from liberals being the cause of all of his problems to the need to exterminate us.
I still remember the first time I heard Savage on the radio. It wasn't coming in clear and I turned to my SO and asked him if he thought we'd picked up a pirate radio station from a KKK/Neo-Nazi type hate group. His cadence, venom, and use of vermin was so reminiscent of the old NAZI propaganda broadcasts against Jews that I couldn't believe any regular station would let him on the air. The man, incites pure hatred and this guy acted on it.
The ironic thing is TVUUC would've helped the gunman with whatever financial or emotional problems he was having without preconditions and of course that liberal policies in general would've (1) helped him recieve mental health treatment and (2) saw him through his economic troubles. Conservatives and conservative policies can be directly blamed for the cutbacks on food stamps.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!