Oh my God.

[rivka]

A 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.

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.

Comments

[ckd]

I don't have the words.

[ailbhe]

Oh, how horrific. I am so sorry.

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

Oh my...just.../disbelief/

I send my good thoughts out to everyone.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I am so sorry.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Ah, God.

Will be thinking of them. A lot. And that one guy sure is a hero. Yes.

[ailbhe]

... on further reading, I am streaming tears.

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

I want to thank you for sharing this. Our congregation meets this afternoon and we'll be lighting a candle and sharing a moment (at least, I'm not sure what the ritual team has planned) of silence.

I'm also utterly stunned by this.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I'm speechless. That's just so awful.

[iamjw.livejournal.com]

There's nothing I can say to this, except to send you hugs if you want them, and GoodThoughts to everyone as they deal with this horror.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

...Yeah. The eyewitness account from the mother who was in the "crying room" with her toddler, watching one of her older children perform onstage...

And this part, again, because I can't stop reading it: 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.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

[timill]

Thanks for the alert - it turns out that some of those involved, like Barbara Kemper, are family friends.

There Are No Words.

[ailbhe]

It's the woman blocking the doorway who sticks in my head. Her other children were out there. What kind of choice was there? Grabbed her baby, blocked the door. And watched. God.

[kiya]

...

oh....


(Prayer for the dead:
A thousand of bread
A thousand of beer
A thousand of every good thing.)

[guruwench.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry - I have no words. Hugs available if you wish, and many GoodThoughts for all dealing with this horrible event.

[glinda-w.livejournal.com]

GoodThoughts for everyone involved. Beyond that, I have no words.

[ailbhe]

Oh, god. I am all but convinced that the second dead victim is this woman.

[technoir.livejournal.com]

I went to that church a few times when I lived in knoxville. I honestly don't know what to say.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what to say, either. Tying church-going with a traumatic event is a profound violation.

[mkillingworth.livejournal.com]

It's the church my son attended before he moved to Raleigh. Most distressing.

[mkillingworth.livejournal.com]

I went to high school with Barbara.

[lerryn.livejournal.com]

All I can say is that's awful that someone would do that.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

From the newspaper article: "Greg McKendry stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us," witness Barbara Kemper said.

"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.

[piqueen.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to say. I will pray for them all.

[redbird]

I'm sorry.