Gunman opens fire at a church in Neosho

missouri, eh? Guess the perp didn't know that guns are illegal to carry into any church there.


Another failure of the system.

As you know, there is only one way to stop this - that way is as it's happening. I don't think God would mind defending yourself in His house. It is His whole world after all! What difference does it make if the place you defend yourself in happens to have a religious symbol on the roof...

Woody

Be careful who you choose to stand behind and support. If you are unwilling to take care of yourself, you must take whatever care that comes along. I've yet to see a flock of sheep, no matter how well cared for and tended, that doesn't get fleeced from time to time and eventually end up on the dinner table. Not many sheep die a natural death. B.E. Wood

Fox news portrayal NEOSHA, Mo. —

A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing three people and wounding several others, authorities said.

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

About four or five people were wounded, Police Chief Dave McCracken said, but several others who were injured fled the scene.

The shooter was being held at the Newton County Jail, but police were not releasing any information about him. Bridges said he was related to someone in the church, but declined to elaborate. No charges had been filed Sunday, McCracken said.

The gunman had two small-caliber handguns and one 9 mm semiautomatic machine pistol with a large magazine, McCracken said. The shooting followed the 1 p.m. service, which is held in Spanish. About 50 people, ranging in age from children to the elderly, were in the church at the time.

The gunman surrendered to authorities after about 10 minutes of negotiation.

"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."

He said no one was injured during the arrest.

McCracken said he could not confirm whether the gunman was a member of the church. But he said an incident involving the suspect and a family that attended the First Congregational Church on Saturday night fueled the shooting Sunday.

"At this point though, we don't have any information more than that," McCracken said.

The identities of the deceased were being withheld, McCracken said.

of event.

"semiautomatic machine pistol"...?

guess the BG didn't get the memo that he wasn't supposed to have a gun in a church.

Now if there had only been a big sign on the outside of the church prohibiting guns, this would never have happened. Sad.

But why would you need a gun in church?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070812/ap_on_re_us/church_shooting

NEOSHO, Mo. - A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing three people and wounding several others, authorities said.

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

About four or five people were wounded, Police Chief Dave McCracken said, but several others who were injured fled the scene.

The shooter was being held at the Newton County Jail, but police were not releasing any information about him. Bridges said he was related to someone in the church, but declined to elaborate. No charges had been filed Sunday, McCracken said.

The gunman had two small-caliber handguns and one 9 mm semiautomatic machine pistol with a large magazine, McCracken said. The shooting followed the 1 p.m. service, which is held in Spanish. About 50 people, ranging in age from children to the elderly, were in the church at the time.

The gunman surrendered to authorities after about 10 minutes of negotiation.

"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."

He said no one was injured during the arrest.

McCracken said he could not confirm whether the gunman was a member of the church. But he said an incident involving the suspect and a family that attended the First Congregational Church on Saturday night fueled the shooting Sunday.

"At this point though, we don't have any information more than that," McCracken said.

The identities of the deceased were being withheld, McCracken said.

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Sad to hear this...Just goes to show that nowhere is safe. Not even a place of worship.

missouri, eh? Guess the perp didn't know that guns are illegal to carry into any church there.

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It is allowed with prior consent according to the NRA state laws compilation. http://www.nraila.org/statelawpdfs/MOSL.pdf
Moot point though because this church probably never gave consent to any licensed church member so they could have defended themselves from a maniac like this and this shooter probably never had a license either.

I guess people will never wake up to how dangerous churches can be, when you have congregation of people, distracted and almost always unharmed due to state laws banning carrying in a house of worship and one crazy person comes along to one of these rural little churches and starts opening fire. We had them in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and lots of other states and its actions that have been going on for as long as there been temples and churches.

Most churches I've been too, you sit with your back to the door...

Even in a Sihk temple you sit with your back to the door, seems like we need to rethink church carry and seating arrangements.

And the saga continues with the "victim disarmament zones". People need to learn to start trusting the "good guys".

Well, you can do what you want, but "concealed means concealed". Good enough reason to buy one of those tiny little .380s.

Most churches I've been too, you sit with your back to the door...

Even in a Sihk temple you sit with your back to the door, seems like we need to rethink church carry and seating arrangements.

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Yeah, the Sikhs may have their backs to the door, but at least all the men are armed.

I guess people will never wake up to how dangerous churches can be, when you have congregation of people, distracted and almost always unharmed due to state laws banning carrying in a house of worship and one crazy person comes along to one of these rural little churches and starts opening fire. We had them in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas and lots of other states and its actions that have been going on for as long as there been temples and churches.

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Even though in Maryland where I live there has been no in church shootings that I can recall, there has been a few church robberies where all the parishoners were robbed however. The armed robbers knew there would most likely be a dozen or more unarmed victims all in one place.

"The gunman had two small-caliber handguns and one 9 mm semiautomatic machine pistol with a large magazine"

:banghead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James_Church_Massacre - my friend's girlfriend (now wife) was one of the survivors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beckett - an earlier murder in church

So is anywhere sacred?

Journalistic accuracy at its finest

9 mm semiautomatic machine pistol

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I can't wait to find out what it turns out to be.

ANDY C - "So is anywhere sacred?"


Nope.

L.W.

I used to CCW in church occasionally. Now we're meeting in an elementary school, so I'm pretty much out of luck.

At my congregation I can count as many as 5 or 6 members who are armed at all times. Some are off duty LEO's but the rest of us are either deacons or simply responsible parishioners/members. Someone asked me about 2 months ago on this forum why I felt the need to carry on a "church outing". Not wishing for everyone to be paranoid, but I wish people realized the danger of being perceived as vulnerable.

I would like every BG to think of every church as ready for them...either to pray for them or to defend against them.

Treat everyone with the respect that you would give to someone who is armed

My Makarov is on my ankle with me every Sunday!

Now we're meeting in an elementary school, so I'm pretty much out of luck.

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God will forgive you. Caesar may not, but at least you might be alive or might save a life should you ever 'forget' to become the lamb who lies down with the lion. Perhaps society needs more CCW lions to lay down with the lambs.
I hope everyone recovers quickly and forgives the troubled young shooter while he languishes within a locked up institution.

So is anywhere sacred?

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Sacred, yes. Free from evil? No. Even Pope John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin who was later released on parole by the Turkish gov't. The Pope was a far far better man than I (doesn't take much).

semiautomatic machine pistol with a large magazine,

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what is the weapon? and please define large magazine, at least they did not report "clip". My clips are only ten rounds and not in my opinion large.
Though I do have about 40 clips in my ammo box.

This is simply awful. No doubt more gun control laws would solve the problem.

Prayers to those involved.

Great... this is the third time in just the last year or so that our otherwise quiet community has made the national news in terms of shootings