by: twilight language
June 17, 2015 – Charleston, South Carolina – On the evening of June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. The church is one of the United States’ oldest black churches. The senior pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, a state senator, was among the nine people killed. In the immediate aftermath, police sought a white male, later identified as Dylann Storm Roof. He was captured the morning after the attack in Shelby, North Carolina, at a traffic stop on Route 74.
December 4, 2014 – Bradenton, Florida – Manatee County Sheriff reported that Pastor Tripp Battle of Bayshore Baptist Church and Bayshore Baptist’s Nursery/Children’s director Amber Avalos were killed by the husband of suspected shooter Andy Avalos.
June 13, 2014 – Phoenix, Arizona – Two Priest were shot at Mother of Mercy church in Phoenix. Pastor Walker died at the scene and Pastor Joseph Terra was injured.
August 20, 2013 – Chicago, Illinois – Three men in a white vehicle fired gunshots at a group of people on the steps of the Uptown Baptist Church. Witnesses told police that one gunman fired as many as 20 shots from the vehicle. Three of the people who were shot were listed from stable to critical condition. One person shot was in critical condition and on life support, and was not expected to survive.
November 5, 2012 – Los Angeles, California – One churchgoer was killed and another wounded while trying to stop a teenage girl from spray-painting graffiti on the side of the Principe de Paz (“Prince of Peace”) church located on the Beverly Boulevard in the Westlake district. Janeth Lopez, 22; Pedro Martinez, 24; and Ivy Navarrete, 31, were charged in the killing of Adres Ordonez, 25, who had been a churchgoer there since he was 10.
October 31, 2012 – Atlanta, Georgia – Floyd Palmer walked into the chapel of World Changers Church International, during prayer services in the evening and shot Gregory McDowell as he led a prayer service. Palmer was charged with murder in McDowell’s shooting death.
August 5, 2012 – Oak Creek, Wisconsin – Six Sikh temple members were killed when 40-year-old Army veteran Wade Michael Page opened fire in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at their temple. Page killed himself as cops moved in.
June 7, 2012 – DeKalb County, Georgia – Two people were killed and two others were wounded during a shooting outside of a funeral at Victory for the World Church in DeKalb County.
September 18, 2011 – Lakeland, Florida – Jeremiah Fogle, 57, was charged with murder and attempted murder after Sunday’s shootings at Greater Faith Christian Center Church. Pastor William Boss and associate pastor Carl Stewart were shot from behind, authorities said. Boss was shot in the head, and Stewart was shot three times in the back and ear.
August 30, 2010 – Visalia, California – The fatal shooting of a lay bishop occurred at a Mormon church by a man who was killed in an ensuing confrontation with officers. Clay Sannar, a 42-year-old father of six boys, was doing administrative paperwork on Sunday between services when a man came in and asked for a leader of the congregation, said church official Ralph Jordan. The man was directed to Sannar and fatally shot him, said Colleen Mestas, the police chief in Visalia, southeast of Fresno in California’s Central Valley. Then, someone called police and identified himself as the gunman. When police arrived at the church, they confronted the man and exchanged gunfire, said Mestas. The gunman was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at nearby hospital.
church members were injured by a knife in the struggle to capture after the attack. The suspect also stabbed himself, but survived, when his gun jammed.
Feb. 18, 2009 – Garden Grove, California – A man walks into the internationally known Crystal Cathedral, hands a greeter a note, then kneels in front of a cross and shoots himself in the head, leaving him dead at the altar.
July 27, 2008 – Knoxville, Tennessee – A gunman opens fire in a church during a youth performance, killing two people and injuring seven. Motivated by a desire to kill liberals and Democrats, gunman Jim David Adkisson fired a shotgun at members of the congregation during a youth performance of a musical, Annie Jr.
December 9, 2007 – Arvada-Colorado Springs, Colorado – The 2007 Colorado YWAM and New Life shootings were a killing spree beginning in the early morning hours, when 24-year-old Matthew J. Murray opened fire at the Youth With A Mission training center in Arvada, Colorado, with a pistol, killing two and wounding two others before escaping. Later that afternoon, he attacked the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with a number of firearms, killing two more people and injuring three before being shot and wounded by a member of the church’s congregation; he then died by suicide.
May 20, 2007 – Moscow, Idaho – A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.
Aug. 12, 2007 – Neosho, Missouri – First Congregational Church – 3 killed – Eiken Elam Saimon shot and killed the pastor and two deacons and wounded five others.
Oct. 2, 2006 – Lancaster County, Pennsylvania – Attack by a gunman who killed five girls and then himself. While not at a church, this occurred at an Amish school targeted as a religious site.
May 21, 2006 – Baton Rouge, Louisiana – The Ministry of Jesus Christ Church – 4 killed – The four at the church who were shot were members of Erica Bell’s family; she was abducted and murdered elsewhere; Bell’s mother, church pastor Claudia Brown, was seriously wounded – Anthony Bell, 25, was the shooter.
Feb. 26, 2006 – Detroit, Michigan – Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church – 2 killed + shooter – Kevin L. Collins, who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend, later killed himself.
April 9, 2005 – College Park, Georgia – A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church, where he had once worked as a security guard.
March 12, 2005 – Brookfield, Wisconsin – Living Church of God – 7 killed + shooter – Terry Ratzmann opened fire on the congregation, killing seven and wounding four before taking his own life.
July 30, 2005 – College Park, Georgia – World Changers Church International – shooter killed – Air Force Staff Sgt. John Givens was shot five times by a police officer after charging the officer, following violent behavior.
Dec. 17, 2004, Garden Grove, Calif.: A veteran musician at the Crystal Cathedral shoots himself to death after a nine-hour standoff.
Oct. 5, 2003 – Atlanta, Georgia – Turner Monumental AME Church – 2 killed + shooter – Shelia Wilson walked into the church while preparations are being made for service and shot the pastor, her mother and then herself.
June 10, 2002 – Conception, Missouri – Benedictine monastery – 2 killed + shooter – Lloyd Robert Jeffress shot four monks in the monastery killing two and wounding two, before killing himself.
March 12, 2002 – Lynbrook, New York – Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church – 2 killed – Peter Troy, a former mental patient, opens fire during Mass, killing the priest and a parishioner. He later receives a life sentence.
May 18, 2001 – Hopkinsville, Kentucky – Greater Oak Missionary Baptist Church – 2 killed – Frederick Radford stood up in the middle of a revival service and began shooting at his estranged wife, Nicole Radford, killing her and a woman trying to help her.
Nov. 1, 2000, Kansas City: The wife of a minister fatally shoots her daughter and then herself.
Sept. 15, 1999 – Fort Worth, Texas – Wedgewood Baptist Church – 7 killed + shooter – Larry Gene Ashbrook shot dead seven people and injured a further seven at a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days in Fort Worth, Texas before killing himself.
April 15, 1999 – Salt Lake City, Utah – LDS Church Family History Library – 2 killed + shooter – Sergei Babarin, 70, with a history of mental illness, entered the library, killed two people and wounded four others before he was gunned down by police.
Alex Infohub 