MASS MURDER AT US CHURCHES: A HISTORY
by Carl Chinn
The Federal Bureau of Investigation describes “mass murder” as four or more murders occurring during the same incident, with no distinctive period of time between the murders. Typically, but not always, these events involve a single location where victims are killed in an ongoing incident.
Using this description, the following recounts mass murders at churches on US soil since 1960. The number of incidents where one, two, or three people have been killed or seriously wounded in church settings has escalated over the past fifty years and numbers in the hundreds.
September 15, 1963
16th Street Baptist Church
Birmingham, Alabama
Domestic terrorists planted a concoction of dynamite on a timer which exploded under a street-side stairwell at the church. An eleven-year-old and three fourteen-year-old girls were killed.
June 22, 1980
First Baptist Church
Daingerfield, Texas
A gunman attacked the Sunday morning service, coming through the sanctuary doors, yelling “this is war,” and firing into the congregation. He killed a seven-year-old girl, an adult woman, and three adult men in the shooting, which lasted barely one minute.
March 10, 1999
New St. John Baptist Church
Gonzales, Louisiana
On a Wednesday an estranged husband with a gun killed his wife’s mother at her home then drove to the church, where he walked into the evening service. When the gunman’s two-year-old son said, “Daddy,” the gunman said, “Boy, don’t call me daddy now,” and killed him. He then killed his wife and a young man sitting nearby.
September 15, 1999
Wedgwood Baptist Church
Fort Worth, Texas
A man, distraught over his father’s death, drove to what appeared to be a random location choice where a See You at the Pole celebration rally was being held. He shot his first victim while walking in the lobby doors, asking, “Is this where that (expletive deleted) prayer meeting is going on?” He killed two seminary students, a member of the church staff, and four teenagers before taking his own life.
March 12, 2005
Living Church of God
Brookfield, Wisconsin
Angry at his pastor’s sermon, a man left the Sunday morning service and came back in shooting. He killed the pastor and six others before killing himself.
August 28, 2005
Sash Assembly of God Church
Sash, Texas
A neighbor of the church walked up to a deacon in the parking lot, whom he shot and killed. He then shot and killed the pastor who was standing nearby. As he fled the scene, he shot and killed two women who had stopped on a road to check their horse trailer.
May 21, 2006
Ministry of Jesus Christ Church
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
An estranged husband attacked his wife in church, killing four others as he stormed into the service. He kidnapped his wife out of the church and killed her at another location. He also shot and critically wounded the pastor.
December 9, 2007
YWAM (Arvada) and New Life Church (Colorado Springs)
Arvada and Colorado Springs, Colorado
A young man posted a suicide diatribe on the internet stating, “Christian America this is YOUR Columbine.” He then killed a young man and woman at a YWAM training facility, continuing to New Life Church, where he killed two teenage sisters before being stopped by church security.
Carl Chinn is a church security expert and the author of Evil Invades the Sanctuary: The Case for Security in Faith-Based Organizations. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
