Posted on 07/27/2008 8:19:51 PM PDT by LdSentinal
The man accused of a mass church shooting this morning was described by his Powell neighbors as a helpful and kind man, but one who had issues with Christianity.
Jim D. Adkisson, 58, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, which killed one and injured eight others.
He is being held on $1 million bond.
More details as they develop online and in Monday's News Sentinel.
"He had his own sense of belief about religion, that's the impression I got of him," said neighbor Karen Massey. "We were talking one day when my daughter graduated from Bible college, and I told him I was a Christian, then he almost turned angry.
"He seemed to get angry at that."
According to Massey, Adkisson talked frequently about his parents who "made him go to church all his life ... he was forced to do that."
Adkisson has lived by himself in the neighborhood for four or five years, Massey said. She's lived there seven years.
He told neighbors that he had worked in a factory and driven a truck, but they weren't sure if he was still employed.
He is an avid motorcyclist and rides his bike up and down the road.
He goes by the name, "David," according to the neighbors.
"He only socialized with a few people," Massey said.
"He was very nice ... he's kind of quiet," she said.
Melissa Coker, a next-door neighbor, also expressed shock that he would be accused of such a violent.
She related how he recently helped change a tire on her car in the driveway.
"He was a very nice guy, he said he used to be a truck driver, but in the past six months to a year, he wasn't driving any more," Coker said. "From my understanding, he was retired."
He lives in a white basement duplex, with garages facing the street.
The yard was neatly mowed, and a water hose was coiled up in the driveway in front of the duplex.
Neighbors said he was the guy who would always help them, no matter what.
No one ever saw him with any weapons of any kind, Massey said.
"He's never bothered anyone," Massey said.
JMO I always percieved the Unitarian to be New Age.
Did you hear about the Unitarian bigot? He burned a question mark on someone’s lawn.
Oddly enough, Robert Welch, founder of the John Birch Society, was a Unitarian of the agnostic persuasion who believed that Christianity was waning away.
He's 58. His parents could not have made him go to church for the last 40 years.
The DUmmies are still swearing up and down the shooting occured because the the UU church is full of gays. UULBGTQ as it were.
How odd, I “thought” the JBS sprang up after a priest was killed by the ChiComs?
As for this guy, what can be said? He was so filled with hate of Christ that he went beserk in the one religious building where there was little chance that he would kill any Christians.
It’s a bit unusual for someone to become psychotic late in life.
Usually it happens in late adolescence or early adulthood.
While theologically probably not much better, there was a PCUSA church next door.
But count me in with the folks who are puzzled as to why an anti-Christian would go after the UU.
John Birch was a protestant minister killed in China by Mao’s men. He was considered the “first casualty” of the cold war, which is why his name was chosen. Most of the early members were christians, although Welch himself was an agnostic, and Revilo Oliver was a pagan (although later thrown out of the organization for extreme antisemitism).
Well, I guess every "church" has its community smut.He could have racked his pump on a RC church that had a pedaphilic history?
I get a kick out of how this thread on an accused murderer and his motive gets switched around to religio-one-upsmanship.
No one deserved to die in that church as they freely worshipped, no matter what their religion, even if it was full of Wiccans, Cruthnians or even Shiite Muslims.
The FBI is in on the investigation, because religious freedom is a federally protected right ( still) in this country. As a conservative I aim to uphold anyone's right to worship as they choose. The accused murderer apparently violated that right.
I am sure we will have some news on a motive soon.
But MY religion is superior to ALL of yours! ( sarc. off).
What a shiite-load of unadulterated B.S.
From what I've heard, they're HEAVY on the secular, and VERY light to none existent on the "religious".
In other words, they are a gaggle of left-wing nut cases and turds who pass themselves off as a "religion", and for what reason?
Perhaps for the tax exempt status required to have the extra money to perform such left-wing, un-American stunts as establishing local chapters of the ACLU, and demonstrating against the former "School of the Americas" run by our U.S. Army.
Okay, we won't store any missiles there.
Seems like you hear this everytime someone goes physco. Gee he was such a nice guy we had no idea.
Jim D. Adkisson
So his middle name isn’t “Wayne” nor “Lee”.
He missed the two biggies for this sort of thing.
As I understand it, if you kill a Christian, you are doing them a favor?
I was thinking the same thing. Why then did he choose that "church"? They aren't Christians.
Bet they made him brush his teeth too. I wonder if he got angry at every mention of good oral hygiene.
Just google it.
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