Gunman kills 2, hurts 7 people in Tennessee church

Members dive beneath pews or run from building

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A gunman opened fire at a church youth performance yesterday and killed two people, including a man whom witnesses called a hero for shielding others from a shotgun blast.

Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Church members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started.

The gunman was tackled by congregants and eventually taken into police custody.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged with first-degree murder and was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner. Authorities were searching Adkisson's home in the Knoxville bedroom community of Powell, Kenner said.

The man slain was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper said McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us."

Linda Kraeger, 61, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center a few hours after the shooting, Kenner said.

Five people remained hospitalized, all in critical or serious condition. Two others were treated and released.

The gunman's motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless, and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its website.

Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.

"It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things," she said, but refused to elaborate.

The FBI was assisting in the case, Police Chief Sterling Owen said, in case it was a hate crime. Police cordoned off the church with yellow and red tape, and were taking statements and collecting video cameras from church members who had been taping the performance based on the musical "Annie."

There were about 200 people watching the performance by 25 children when the shooting took place.

Church member Mark Harmon was in the first row. "It had barely begun when there was an incredibly loud bang," he said. Harmon said he thought the noise was part of the play, then he heard a second bang. As he dove for cover, he realized a woman behind him was bleeding. She looked like she was in shock, he said.

Harmon said church members just behind him in the second and third rows were shot. He said his wife told him that she saw the gunman pull the shotgun out of a guitar case. Witnesses reported hearing about three blasts from the .12-gauge shotgun, which spreads pellets out when the shot leaves the barrel.

The church's minister was on vacation in western North Carolina at the time of the shooting but returned yesterday afternoon.

"We've been touched by a horrible act of violence. We are in a process of healing and we ask everyone for your prayers," the Rev. Chris Buice said outside the church. "I will tell you we love Greg McKendry. We are grieving the loss of a wonderful man."