Crime Time

Prosecutor: Church gunman noted 'day of death' in planner

The man accused of fatally shooting a minister at an Illinois church noted that date in his planner book as "day of death" or "death day," a prosecutor said.

Terry J. Sedlacek is charged with with first-degree murder in the slaying of the Rev. Fred Winters as Winters was holding a Sunday service at First Baptist Church in Maryville.

Sedlacek, who was seriously wounded himself in the ensuing melee, also has been charged with two counts of aggravated battery in connection with the stabbing of two church members.

You can read more here.

-- Lance Murray

Suspect in fatal New Jersery church shooting is caught

Police have captured the suspect in the deadly New Jersey church shooting.

Joseph M. Pallipurath was arrested at about midnight Monday in Monroe, Ga., near Atlanta. Pallipurath is suspected of entering the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, N.J., and killing his estranged wife and another man. A third person was wounded in the shooting.

-- Lance Murray

2nd person dies in New Jersey church shooting

Authorities in Clifton, N.J., said Monday that a second person has died in the shooting incident Sunday at the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church.

The third shooting victim is in "extremely critical" condition, authorities said.

The search is still going on for the man suspected in the shooting, Joseph M. Pallipurath, 27.  He's wanted in connection with the killing of his ex-wife Reshma James, 24, who was one of the people gunned down inside the church. She died Sunday.

-- Lance Murray

Police say church shooter hated liberals, lacked job

Police in Knoxville, Tenn., have released what they believe are the motives for Sunday's shooting at a church in that city left two people dead and seven others wounded: a hatred of liberals and unemployment.

Jim Adkisson, 58, is charged with first-degree murder in the shootings at the the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, which he apparently targeted because of recent publicity about the church's activities that he considered liberal.

Police said they found a four-page letter in which Adkisson reportedly described his motivations. They said the case is being investigated as a hate crime.

"It appears that what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred for the liberal movement," Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen IV told reporters on Monday, CNN reported.

Also found was a letter from the state of Tennessee informing Adkisson that his food stamps were being reduced or eliminated, police said.

"He did express that frustration, that the liberal movement was getting more jobs," Owen said. "And he felt like he was being kept out of loop because of his age."

-- Lance Murray

Fatal church shooting leaves questions for investigators

Why?

That's the question everyone is asking after Sunday's fatal shooting at a Knoxville, Tenn., church in which two people died and five others were injured.

Police say they don't know the motive behind the shooting. The man accused of first-degree murder, Jim D. Adkisson, 58, is under a $1 million bond in jail.

What is sure to people who were in the church when the shooting started is that Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime member and usher of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, is a hero who gave his life to protect others, including children.

A witness told the Associated Press that McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us."

-- Lance Murray

TV report: Colorado church killer left online threat

The young man who has been identified as the shooter in the church-related killings of three people in Colorado apparently left an online warning that mirrored the writings of one of the teens responsible for the Columbine massacre.

Matthew Murray, who had been kicked out of the missionary training center where the first of his shootings occurred, warned that, "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world," according to a Denver TV station.

Murray was fatally shot by a volunteer security guard at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he went from the missionary training center to continue his rampage.

Read more here about Murray, the shootings and how his writings were similar to Columbine killer Eric Harris.

To watch a video of security guard  Jeanne Assam talking about what happened, click here.

-- Lance Murray

Colorado church shooter ID'd, TV stations report

Several television outlets are reporting the suspect in the New Life Church shootings in Colorado is a 23-year-old man named Matthew Murray.

Here's a report from Channel 9 in Denver with more details.

-- Lance Murray

A deadly assault on a place of worship

Three people -- a pastor and two worshippers -- were gunned down Sunday in the sanctuary of a Neosho, Mo., church. Neosho is in southwest Missouri. Several others were wounded in the assault by a gunman on the congregation, authorities said.

Police said the gunman ordered all the children out of the church and then he started shooting. He held between 25 to 50 people hostage before surrendering, police said.

-- Lance Murray