[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Church must be in a rough neighborhood! Someone pulls out a gun, and the parishioners pull out their shivs!

[armymarinemom]

Honestly we have a low crime rate in Maine but a lot of people carry leatherman tools.

[Drew68]

Church must be in a rough neighborhood! Someone pulls out a gun, and the parishioners pull out their shivs!

That's what I first thought. Now I'm not so sure.

Here's a photo of the pastor and his family from the church's web page.

I'm guessing this isn't one of those thugged-out urban churches.

[Bratch]

"You brought a knife to a gunfight?!!"

[El Gato]

Probably not. Probably hunting/utility knives. The area appears to a be a typical small town too close to a large metro area. Houses appear fairly new, church definitely fairly new.

Town is about 10 miles on the Illinois side of the Mississippi across from St. Louis.

This is the church.

[StarCMC]

No - the shooter pulled out a knife when his gun jammed. Sad situation all the way around. :-(

[daylilly]

The story I read said that the gunman also had a knife which he pulled after the gun jammed.
The parishoners tackled him. Didn’t say any parishoners had any knives.
IIRC it also said the gunman was stabbing himself as well as others.