Gunman Opens Fire in Missouri Church Killing at Least 3

[Reciprocity]

Source: AP Fox

At least three people were reported dead after a gunman walked into a church in Neosha, Mo., Sunday afternoon and opened fire, the Newton County Sheriff''s Department confirmed to FOX News.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293034,00.html

---

I just saw this on CNN but the link is from Fox. People get crazy in this kind of heat.

[Reciprocity]

1. More...

The gunman walked into the First Congregational Church at 121 N. Wood about 2 p.m. A police dispatcher said there appeared to be two fatalities, according to the Springfield News Leader
http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4044578&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

On edit......
Gunman opens fire at a church in Neosho
By Joel Currier
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/13/2007

Police said the gunman began shooting inside the First Congregational Church in Neosho, Mo., shortly before 2 p.m. and held 25 to 50 hostages until police stormed the church through the basement and took the man into custody.

Authorities believe the gunman was an acquaintance of someone attending the afternoon church service. Several of those in the congregation fled the church after shots were fired.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/25F65F324EB728CC86257335007942EA?OpenDocument

[Reciprocity]

2. Ironically the church was founded on Aug 12th 1866 from what I can find online.

http://web.umr.edu/~whmcinfo/shelf30/r730/info.html

Congregationalism came to Neosho on 12 August 1866, at a public meeting called to organ­ize a Congregational Church in the community.

[Ian David]

4. Liberal and Welcoming (gay-friendly) church, too.

See also:

BULLETIN: 3 dead, several wounded in downtown church shooting
By Rick Rogers
Daily News Publisher
Published: Sunday, August 12, 2007 5:46 PM CDT

<snip>


"At the time that the rescue attempt was successful we had approximately 20 people in the sanctuary still," he said. "We had some people who escaped the crime scene prior to the police arrival that were wounded, and we had some people escape during the process and at the time of the rescue," McCracken said. "At this point we are unclear as to how many people have been wounded, but as the investigation continues that will be determined."

<snip>

"After evaluating the scene and gaining additional assistance from the Newton County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, entry was made into the sanctuary area where the suspect was confronted," McCracken said. "The suspect surrendered to officers with no resistance. There was threat to the police, as well as the hostages, but no one was injured during the arrest."

<snip>

McCracken said he could not confirm if the gunman was a member of the church.

<snip>

He said an incident involving the suspect and a family who attended church at the First Congregational Church on Saturday night fueled the incident Sunday.


Authorities get ready to enter the First Congregational Church at 121 N. Wood in downtown Neosho as a gunman held approximately 20-50 churchgoers hostage Sunday afternoon. According to Neosho Police Chief Dave McCracken three people are confirmed dead, and about four to five are confirmed injured, in the incident. The gunman, who is in custody at the Newton County Jail, was apprendened by authorities without incident. | TODD G. HIGDON / DAILY NEWS

More:
http://www.neoshodailynews.com/articles/2007/08/12/news/001shooting.txt

[Reciprocity]

5. This could be a hate crime as well.

On edit the the three deaths were the pastor and two others.

Gunman attacks southwestern Missouri church, killing 3 including pastor

Authorities say a gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing the pastor and two worshippers and wounding several others.

Police say 1 of the victims was the Reverend Kernal Rehobson, who'd led the local congregation of predominantly Micronesian worshippers holding the service at the First Congregational Church.
http://www.whbf.com/Global/story.asp?S=6921502&nav=0zGo

[Critters2]

6. I don't think it's a UCC church

It doesn't show up on the UCC church locator,. So may not be liberal and gay-friendly. "Congregational" does not necessarily mean "United Church of Christ". Which is why I wish churches would drop the word "Congregational" and just use "UCC".

[dogfacedboy]

34. UCC is not the only

Liberal and Gay Friendly church in the world.

[Critters2]

39. No, but most Congregational churches that opted out

of the merger, or never merged in the first place, did so because they are conservative. We've lost a good number of churches since the Marriage Equality Resolution. In my cluster, which covers four well-populated counties, my church is one of two formerly Congregational churches that are still UCC. The others left over the gay issue.

Based on my experience of nearly 50 years in the UCC, I'd guess that's the case with a non-UCC Congregational church in the Ozarks.

[Ian David]

3. It looks like this is a liberal church, btw...

<snip>

In addition to First Congregational Church activities the Springfield Association of Congregational Churches met. This association included Congregational churches from Lebanon, Barton City, Carthage, Neosho and Springfield. This was the group that created Drury College (now University). There was a rivalry among ten towns wanting the college and Springfield won by a single vote.

On January 12, 1952, a tragic fire struck the church, completely destroying it. Among the items lost in the fire were a valuable oil painting, a new organ, walnut doors and a lectern. The church bell was saved. A new church was built on the site in a contemporary style. In 1957 the national council of the Congregational Church merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the name changed to First Congregational, United Church of Christ. The most recent article about the church in the Springfield News-Leader is from 1990. The church wanted to publicly invite all members of the gay community in Springfield to attend the church, where they would be welcomed.



More:
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/postcards/first_congregational.cfm

[Critters2]

7. That's First Cong in Springfield

Different church.

[blonndee]

8. CNN Breaking: Gunman kills three people in MO church

Source: AP

Authorities say a gunman has killed three people in a Missouri church, The Associated Press reports.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com

[truthisfreedom]

9. Direct Link here

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/12/church.shooting.ap/index.html

Official: Gunman kills three at Missouri church

NEOSHO, Missouri (AP) -- A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing three people and wounding several others, a city spokeswoman said.

About 25 to 50 people were briefly held hostage at the First Congregational Church until the gunman surrendered, Neosho spokeswoman Desiree Bridges said.

Fewer than 10 people were also shot and wounded, Bridges said.

The shooter was being held at the Newton County Jail, but police were not releasing any information about him.

<snip>

Very little more.

[FloridaJudy]

10. Sounds personnal, not political

A few years ago, someone opened fire on a Florida synagogue during the High Holy Days. Everyone was initially terrified it was the work of Moslem terrorists, but the shooter proved to be the estranged husband of a member of the congregation. Since the report suggests the gunman was "related to someone in the church", I suspect the same may be true here.

[dogfacedboy]

35. Not political, yet how long until

clowns like O'Reilly, et al, start trying to spin it into some kind of "Attack on Traditionalist Religion in America"?

[FuJun]

11. How Many More?

Enough of this!! How many more people have to die before we take effective action? I am now convinced the only truly effective way to stop this madness is the complete and total prohibition of personal firearms ownership.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[piedmont]

13. The murderers of the Petits in CT had no firearms.

They subdued the father by beating him with a baseball bat.

[Redstone]

18. And that has exactly WHAT do do with this shooting?

Redstone

[piedmont]

19. This shooting has exactly what to do with justifying banning all guns?

[aquart]

27. And smokers used to say the air was dirtier than a cigarette

Excuses excuses.

[bluestateguy]

15. Yeah. Then all of the criminals will have to turn their guns in, and crime will stop.

Why didn't I think of that? :eyes: :sarcasm:

[FuJun]

28. Obviously not...

Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I do not believe that gun crime will vanish overnight. It will take at least 25 years or more of intensive law enforcement action to physically confiscate and destroy the millions of firearms used by the criminal element in our country. Yes, we will be vulnerable in the meantime, but that is simply the price we must pay for building a more progressive society. Future generations will thank us for our courage. Most of the firearms used by criminals are stolen, not legally purchased, so a ban on ownership automatically eliminates their primary source for guns. Crime will not stop, ever, but that's not the point. It will continue without firearms. However, a prohibition will immediately cause gun RELATED deaths to drop dramatically. Deaths caused by accident, carelessness, and simple stupidity. By the way, I don't blame the objects themselves, that would be silly. It is a simple truth that we collectively as a society are not mature enough to responsibly manage the power that firearms provide us. In short, we failed the test, time to accept the consequences.

[beevul]

41. Thats your opinion...

and your welcome to it.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I do not believe that gun crime will vanish overnight. It will take at least 25 years or more of intensive law enforcement action to physically confiscate and destroy the millions of firearms used by the criminal element in our country. Yes, we will be vulnerable in the meantime, but that is simply the price we must pay for building a more progressive society. Future generations will thank us for our courage. Most of the firearms used by criminals are stolen, not legally purchased, so a ban on ownership automatically eliminates their primary source for guns. Crime will not stop, ever, but that's not the point. It will continue without firearms. However, a prohibition will immediately cause gun RELATED deaths to drop dramatically. Deaths caused by accident, carelessness, and simple stupidity. By the way, I don't blame the objects themselves, that would be silly. It is a simple truth that we collectively as a society are not mature enough to responsibly manage the power that firearms provide us. In short, we failed the test, time to accept the consequences."

So you propose a ban on ownership. How would you implement that? Will you suspend the constitution so you can search door to door without a warrant? While your at it why not throw former gun owners in gitmo too. Their views might be threatening.

Yours is a pipedream.

Reality, on the other hand...is that less than one percent of gun owners are a problem. Less than one half a percentage of the guns are the problem. Thats hardly evidence that collectively there is a problem, or that any "societal test" has been failed.

[Speaker]

31. Then we can outlaw drugs...

and everyone will have to quit taking them.

[RantinRavin]

17. Is this simialr

to the way the complete and total prohibition of drugs in this country has kept everyone from having them ?

[benEzra]

20. Ummm...no thanks. (n/t)

[beevul]

21. Nothing quite like...

Nothing quite like treating those not responsible for this shooting or any other shooting as if they ARE responsible, eh?

I expect that the next time someone is raped by a male, that you'll insist something be done about penises.

"I am now convinced the only truly effective way to stop this madness is the complete and total prohibition of personal firearms ownership."


I am convinced that whatever political party made any organised attempt at doing so would cease to be a factor in politics, permanently.

[tazkcmo]

25. Pick and choose?

So now we want to pick and choose what parts of the Constitution we want to appeal? Keep right to privacy, abolish right to bear arms? What next? I bet there's alot of Repubs that would like to repeal blacks right to vote, too. Sounds kinda hypocritical to me.

[Speaker]

32. Yep.

If we can ignore the second, maybe the Pubbies will ignore the 13th.

[Tesha]

29. A lot. Hundreds of thousands.

Gun nuts will prevent America from *EVER* developing a
sane attitude and sane policies towards handguns.

Tesha

[Harper_is_Bush]

14. Neosho, MO temperature at 7pm CST: 98F with heat index of 101F

And that is at 7pm. This went down at 2pm.

[Redstone]

16. Guns, guns, we need more guns! Everybody needs to have a gun! Guns will solve all of our problems!

Redstone

[Xenotime]

23. Guns bring nothing but death...let this be a lesson to America.

[Seedersandleechers]

22. There is a lack of suitable care

for the mentally ill in this country. In my county jail alone 67% have some sort of mental illness that needs treatment. Taking away all the guns just isn't going to work....

[mvd]

24. True; background checks need to be very thorough

I don't plan on owning a gun and feel some more restrictions would help, but I'm worried that if we banned all guns, they'd only be in the black market.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

26. Bingo, friend.

Get rid of the governmental and societal attitude that mental illness is punishment for some moral weakness, demonic possession or just a failure to "snap out of it", provide effective diagnosis and treatment with the same funding we have targeted at The War on (Some) Drugs and (Some) People, and maybe something will truly start to change. The shortage of just supportive housing for people leaving institutionalization, across the nation, is at staggering crisis levels.

Perhaps a little work on the overall societal attitude that violence as a whole, and guns in particular are an effective and appropriate means of conflict resolution, suitable for all occasions and that guns make a damned manly fashion accessory to boot, is in order as well.

[Tesha]

30. I've always suspected that if we cared for the mentally ill...

I've always suspected that if we, as a society, cared for
the mentally ill there'd be far fewer people who felt the
*NEED* to own guns.

(And yes, I mean this on both sides of the equation: Fewer
paranoids would be running around un-medicated and feeling
like they needed a gun to protect themselves against some
mysterious "other", and the rest of us wouldn't need to
worry so much about protecting ourselves from a random
paranoid nutcase with a gun.)

If you look at most (all?) of the big mass murders committed
with guns from Charles Whitman to Columbine, these folks are
all clearly mentally disturbed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ASpree_shootings :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_College_shooting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonesboro_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre

Guns are a *SYMPTOM* of mental illness, both at the personal
level and the societal level.

Tesha

[Speaker]

33. No more than claws are a symptom of mental illness on a tiger,

Guns are a *SYMPTOM* of mental illness, both at the personal
level and the societal level.

Our "weapon" is our brain, and the tools it can create.

Just like the tigers claws, or the scorpions sting, we will avail ourselves of the tools to protect that wich is near and dear to us.

Scorpions sometimes sting unjustly; people will use guns unjustly.

My right to protect myself is not subject to the bad behavior of others.

[Tesha]

36. Against all enemies, real and imagined. (NT)

[Speaker]

37. I don't have to plan to have an enemy...

to bear arms any more than I have to plan to have a fire in order to have a smoke detector.

I don't plan to get robbed, but I have an alarm.

A firearm is just one of many available tools that can help keep you alive, even though the average person will never need them.

The people that plan to shoot someone will never obey a firearms law.

[benEzra]

38. Bit of a broad brush, there...

Guns are a *SYMPTOM* of mental illness, both at the personal
level and the societal level.

Bit of a broad brush there, don't you think?



No, my wife and I own guns, lawfully and responsibly, and we're not mentally ill. (And we'll keep them, thanks.)

[cabbage08]

42. I agree.

As long as they are owned legally and properly respected.

:thumbsup:

[Broken_Hero]

40. Saddening...

Neosho, is just 11 miles north of me, I shop/visit there damn near 4 days a week....:(