Oh my God.
Jul. 27th, 2008 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaA man with a shotgun walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church this morning and started shooting. One person (or maybe three; news reports differ) is dead and six more are critically injured.
TVUUC is Michael's old congregation. I am crying here. I just can't imagine. I can't imagine. They were at church. They were enfolded in a loving community. And then.
I just got an e-mail on the SUUSI mailing list from someone who was with us at Closing Circle yesterday:
Witnesses say that the man who was killed stood directly in front of the gunman, deliberately, to shield others.
A blogger who is a member of TVUUC mentions that the church just put up a sign welcoming gays and lesbians to the congregation. They host a drop-in center for gay teenagers "plus any other youth who are being harassed for religious beliefs, appearance, or abilities."
I just can't believe it. I am numb with shock.
They were at church.
TVUUC is Michael's old congregation. I am crying here. I just can't imagine. I can't imagine. They were at church. They were enfolded in a loving community. And then.
Kemper tried to comfort a little boy whose mother had been shot in the head. She said there was a handprint of blood on the back of the boys’s shirt.
I just got an e-mail on the SUUSI mailing list from someone who was with us at Closing Circle yesterday:
All of us who attended SUUSI were there, but are okay. My friend Greg is dead. He leaves a widow and foster son. Five more are listed in critical condition. We didn't recognize him and his motive is not known. I'm a little shaky, but okay so far. I helped hold him down while we waited for the police. He had a pump-action shotgun. I applaud those who disarmed him. No children were harmed, though the service was a children's play, "Annie," and the sanctuary was full of children.
Witnesses say that the man who was killed stood directly in front of the gunman, deliberately, to shield others.
A blogger who is a member of TVUUC mentions that the church just put up a sign welcoming gays and lesbians to the congregation. They host a drop-in center for gay teenagers "plus any other youth who are being harassed for religious beliefs, appearance, or abilities."
I just can't believe it. I am numb with shock.
They were at church.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-27 10:09 pm (UTC)"Make sure everyone knows that Greg McKendry was a hero, a total hero," Taylor Bessette said of the man who has been his foster father just a few months.
You never know the day, nor the hour.
My heart goes out to those people. It's the sort of thing that's going to take a long time for them to deal with.