An Initial Incident Review

If we look at the Knoxville, TN incident and try to understand why the shooter decided to attack this church. Are there any signs of the impending attack and could it have been intercepted.

About the Shooter

The information is still somewhat sketchy but by using the press releases and news reports the following becomes apparent about the shooter.

• He was not a member of the church and had not attended the church.
• He was unemployed.
• He had been planning the attack for at least a week.
• He felt his problems were due to liberal people and organizations
• He felt that gays were getting preferential treatment in job hiring
• He was known as a nice person in his neighborhood.
• In the letter, he wrote he intended to kill people in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church until police arrived and expected police to kill him.
• He also said in his letter that he chose the Unitarian church intentionally.
• Police believe he targeted the church because of recent publicity it received on its liberal stance.
• He appears to have fired at his adult victims at random.
• His past record includes two DUIs, one in California and one more recently in Clinton, Tennessee.
• He was also a past member of the 101st Airborne.
• He told police he has no family or next of kin.
• The state had informed him his food stamps would be eliminated or reduced.
• He had apparently last worked in Knoxville in 2006.
• He left a letter behind to explain the attack and did not plan to survive the day.
• He planned for the police to kill him.

About the Church

• The church, on its Web site, describes itself as a community that has worked for social change — including desegregation, women’s rights and gay rights — since the 1950s.
• The church has very liberal leanings when compared to many of the more traditional churches and this is believed to be part of the reason the shooter selected this church.

About the Attack

• Members of the church said a man entered the building at about 10:15 a.m. and began shooting during a children’s production of the musical “Annie.”
• About 200 people in the church were watching the production, which was being put on by 25 children.
• The shooter carried the shotgun into the church concealed in a guitar case
• The attack started at 10:18
• The shooter fired a total of three rounds before being swarmed by church members.
• Several members of the church, three I believe, tackled the shooter and held him down.
• Police were on the scene in three minutes and the shooter was in custody in four minutes.
• Once again, the police even with a quick response were not part the the solution to stop the shooting. The church members stopped him seconds into the attack.
  

Summary

As we examine this shooting incident, it is very apparent that there was no reason to believe that the shooter would decide to turn violent and attack this church. There was no connection between the two parties.

The shooter decided to target the church based upon their liberal beliefs. The children did not appear to be a target and the shooter most likely did not know about their program before arriving at the church. Additionally, although the shooter was targeting adults, it appears to be random targets and not one where there was a personal grudge. In many church shooting incidents, there is a specific grudge against one or more of the shooting victims.

To the people who knew the shooter, it was not apparent that he was making a decision to engage in a act of violence.

At this time, we do not know what security precautions, if any, were in place. The shooter was counting on being a “Suicide by Cop.” Instead, he was tackled and disarmed (by unarmed churchgoers) and charged with 1st degree murder.

The fact that members of the church took immediate action to halt the violence by swarming over the shooter saved a large number of lives. The outcome here is significantly different that of the Virginia Tech shooting were no one charged the shooter and 32 people died.

In closing, although the UU Church is a high profile church taking controversial positions, there were no pre-incident signs that the shooter was going to instigate an attack on the church. The lesson here is to always be aware that violence may erupt at any time and to always keep your awareness of your surroundings. This may the most important duty as a church security member.