2008 Knoxville church shooting

The Unitarian Universalist church hosted a youth performance of Annie Jr. Some 200 people were watching the performance by 25 children when Adkisson entered the church and opened fire on the audience. 60-year-old Greg McKendry, a longtime church member and usher who deliberately stood in front of the gunman to protect others, was killed at the scene. A 61-year-old woman, Linda Kraeger, died from wounds suffered during the attack later that night. Kraeger was a member of the Westside Unitarian Universalist Church in Farragut. Seven people were non-fatally injured, including six injuries from gunfire and one accidental escape injury. The shooter was stopped when church members John Bohstedt, Robert Birdwell, Arthur Bolds and Terry Uselton, along with visitor Jamie Parkey, restrained him. ==Perpetrator==

Jim David Adkisson (born June 25, 1950) was a former private in the United States Army from 1974 to 1977. After his arrest, he said that he was motivated by hatred of Democrats, liberals, African Americans and homosexuals. According to an affidavit by one of the officers who interviewed Adkisson on July 27, 2008: During the interview Adkisson stated that he had targeted the church because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. Adkisson made statements that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those who had voted them into office. Adkisson stated that he had held these beliefs for about the last ten years. Additionally, one of Adkisson's former wives had been a member (in the 1990s) of the church where the attack occurred. Adkisson's manifesto also cited the inability to find a job. His manifesto stated that he intended to keep shooting until police arrived and expected to be killed by police. Adkisson had a waist satchel with more ammunition, totaling 76 shells of #4 shot. In his manifesto, Adkisson also included the Democratic members of the House and Senate, ==Response==

Within hours of the shooting, TVUUC Staff contacted the Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry Team (UUTRM), which sent members to assist the congregation and its leaders in planning to meet the emotional and psychological reactions following the shooting. In addition, UUTRM also assisted leaders in planning the congregational response in the months ahead. Many Unitarian Universalist congregations held special vigils and services in response to the Knoxville shooting. The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church scheduled a rededication ceremony on August 3, 2008, at which John A. Buehrens, a former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and former pastor of TVUUC spoke. The UUA president, William G. Sinkford, spoke at a vigil held at Second Presbyterian Church in Knoxville on July 28, 2008. A relief fund was created by the UUA and its Thomas Jefferson District to aid those affected by the shooting. On August 10, 2008, the Unitarian Universalist Association took out a full-page ad in The New York Times. The ad carried the message, "Our Doors and Our Hearts Will Remain Open". The Unitarian Universalist Association carried comprehensive coverage of the response of the UU faith community online. The TVUUC Board voted to rename the 'fellowship hall' to honor Greg McKendry, citing his outgoing and friendly personality, and to rename the church library to honor Linda Kraeger, citing her work as an author and professor. An oil painting of Greg McKendry by East Tennessee art professor Dr. Carl Gombert was hung over the fireplace in the Greg McKendry Fellowship Hall. ==Legal proceedings==

At his first court appearance, Adkisson waived his rights to the preliminary hearing and requested that the case go directly to the grand jury. Adkisson was represented by public defender Mark Stephens. Stephens indicated that this move was taken to get the case to the trial stage as quickly as possible, so resources would become available for a mental health assessment of Adkisson, indicating a possible insanity defense. On August 21, 2008, Adkisson was arraigned on charges of murder and attempted murder and a trial date of March 16, 2009, was set. He remained in jail on a $1 million bond. It was reported that the FBI had opened a civil rights probe in regards to the case. On February 4, 2009, lawyers representing Adkisson announced that he would plead guilty to two counts of murder, accepting a life sentence without possibility of parole. On February 9, 2009, Adkisson pleaded guilty to killing two people and wounding six others. "Yes, ma'am, I am guilty as charged," he told Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz before she sentenced him to life in prison without parole. A mental health expert had determined that Adkisson was competent to make the plea, although public defender Mark Stephens was prepared to argue at the trial that his client was insane at the time the crime was committed. The judge gave Adkisson a chance to address members of the congregation before sentencing him. "No, ma'am," he snapped. "I have nothing to say." =="Terrorism" terminology==

Douglas Lovelace, director of the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College, contrasted Adkisson with another 21st-century mass shooter, Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in the 2014 Isla Vista killings in California. According to Lovelace, Adkisson was "largely considered a terrorist" while Rodger was widely viewed as a mass murderer, a distinction that Lovelace questioned. Lovelace has written that Adkisson seems to have ascribed political causes to some of his personal problems, like his ex-wife's attendance at a church which, in his view violated his political views. Grievance was mixed with political belief and what he called a "hate crime." Rodger, on the other hand, expressed rage towards interracial couples, minorities and girls or women who "gave their affection and sex and love to other men but never to me." Rodger is not considered a terrorist because he is considered to have acted out of "personal agony" instead of ideology. == See also ==