"I’ve been going to this church my whole life, since I was a small child. “The Memphis FBI Field Office’s Nashville Resident Agency, the Civil Rights Division, and the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee have opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee," the FBI said in a statement Sunday.Īn FBI spokesman declined to answer further questions about the investigation because it is ongoing.Īs members of Burnette Chapel Church of Christ reunited with family members and friends for a vigil at another nearby church Sunday evening, Engle, the 22-year-old usher credited with stopping the shooter, released a statement asking people to pray for the victims, as well as for the shooter and his family. The FBI, along with the US Attorney's office, have also launched a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting. On Sunday night, a judicial commissioner ordered that Samson be held without bond pending further court proceedings. Samson was treated and released from a hospital into police custody Sunday evening, Aaron said, and he is expected to be charged with murder and multiple counts of attempted murder. Their lives have been forever changed, as has the life of their faith community at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ," Berry said in a statement on Sunday afternoon. "My heart aches for the family and friends of the deceased as well as for the wounded victims and their loved ones. Megan Barry, the mayor of Nashville, called the shooting a "terrible tragedy for our city." And he had went into the church and there was someone lying in the doorway and some other people shot," she says in a video posted by a reporter at the scene. "One was in the parking lot that he had shot, in the back. He is, at the end of the day, the hero in this."Ī woman who lives near the church said her husband went to the scene after hearing about the shooting. "He was brave, he took definitive action, even to his own peril, his own injury. Engle saved countless lives here today," Aaron said. The usher managed to subdue Samson, police said, then went to his car to retrieve his own gun, which he held on Samson until authorities arrived. In the struggle, Samson was shot in the left chest with his own gun and Engle was pistol whipped, police said. "The folks here said they had not seen him in quite a while," he said, adding it was unclear why Samson had returned.Īfter firing multiple gunshots, Samson was confronted by the church's 22-year-old usher, Robert Engle, police said. It was only when he was identified by authorities that members of the church remembered his name, Aaron said. Samson was armed with two handguns and wore a ski mask during the shooting, Aaron said, and initially, no one recognized him. The motive for the shooting was not immediately known, but members of the congregation told police that he had attended the church a year or two ago. The alleged shooter was identified by police as Emanuel Kidega Samson, 25, from Rutherford County, Tennessee. The 22 year-old usher was treated and released on Sunday and a woman identified as "Ms. ![]() On Monday afternoon, the Nashville Police Department tweeted that two of the injured church members have been discharged from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The Tennessean also reported that the pastor's wife is among those injured. Forty-two people were inside the church when the shooting occurred, police said.Ī reporter for WKRN tweeted that the pastor's son said his father was shot in the chest and is currently at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The shooting occurred around 11:15 a.m., as Sunday services had finished at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee, a Nashville neighborhood 11 miles southeast of the city center. The sole fatality was identified as 39-year-old Melanie Smith, who died in the church parking lot after being shot multiple times, Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said. Six other churchgoers, all over the age of 60, suffered gunshot wounds, but they were expected to survive, authorities said Sunday evening. A 39-year-old woman died and eight others were found injured after a shooting at a Nashville-area church on Sunday morning.Īmong the injured were the alleged gunman, who was shot with his own gun in a struggle with a 22-year-old church usher, who was also injured.
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