A masked gunman opened fire at a Nashville church on Sunday killing one and injuring six others. He has now been identified as 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson, a Sudanese-born bodybuilder, and has been charged with murder.
A married mother-of-two, 39-year-old Melanie Crow Smith of Smyrna, died at the scene and another six were injured when Emanuel opened fire at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, 30 minutes southeast of Nashville in Antioch, as services let out at 11.15 a.m.
The attack only stopped after a brave church usher, Robert Engle, 22, ran up to wrestle with the gunman and despite being repeatedly pistol-whipped in the head, was able to force Samson to shoot himself in the leg.
Then he went to his car, grabbed his pistol, and returned to hold the shooter at gunpoint until the police department arrived. The hero of the day, Engle, whose two passions appear to be God and guns, according to his Facebook page, was taken to TriStar Skyline Medical Center along with the last shooting victim. The church usher, a former warehouse worker, lives in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.
Church parishioners said pastor Joey Spann and his wife Peggy Spann were also both shot. The injured were taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
A spokesman for Vanderbilt University Medical Center said two of the victims are critically injured, with four others in stable condition. All six patients are adults – three men and three women.
“The two critical patients suffered gunshot wounds to (their) chest and torso,” John Howser, spokesman for the hospital, told the newspaper. “The four other patients suffered gunshot wounds to their extremities.” The shooter’s condition is not life- threatening and he is under heavy police guard at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Police say that Samson, originally from Khartoum, Sudan but who now lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was spotted in the parking lot wearing a mask before he shot dead Smith.
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