KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A gunman opened fire at a church youth performance Sunday and killed two people, including a man who witnesses called a hero for shielding others from a shotgun blast.
Seven adults were injured, but no children were harmed at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Church members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started.
The gunman was tackled by congregants and eventually taken into police custody.
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, faces first-degree murder charges and was being held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if the suspect had retained an attorney. Authorities were searching Adkisson’s home in the Knoxville bedroom community of Powell, Kenner said.
Neighbors described Adkisson as a friendly man who would often work on his motorcycle outside and go on long rides on the weekends.
Church member saved others
The man slain was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper said 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.
A motive for the attack 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 website.
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 the case in case it turns out to be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said. Police were taking statements from witnesses and collecting video cameras from church members who were taping the performance.
There were about 200 people watching a performance by 25 children based on the musical “Annie.”
Witnesses said that the gunman, carrying a guitar case, tried to enter the area where the children were preparing for the play, saying he was there to play music. But he was told to use the public entrance to the sanctuary.
Front-row witness
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.
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, which spreads pellets out when the shot leaves the barrel.
Witnesses said they did not recognize the gunman.
Church member Schera Chadwick said McKendry was a big man.
“He looked like a football player. He did obviously stand up and put himself in between the shooter and the congregation.”
The church’s minister was on vacation at the time of the shooting but returned Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve been touched by a horrible act of violence. We are in a process of healing, and we ask everyone for your prayers,” the Rev. Chris Buice said outside the church. “I will tell you we love Greg McKendry. We are grieving the loss of a wonderful man.”
The New York Times contributed to this report.
