Among those killed in Sunday’s attack at the First Congregation Church in the city of Neosho was 44-year-old Assistant Pastor Kernal Rehobson, police said. He was shot and killed while leading an afternoon service in the Spanish language, catering to Micronesians, reportedly from the Pacific Islands of Pinglap and Pohnpe, BosNewsLife learned.
Rehobson had led the group of Micronesians for about 15 years and ran a Micronesian store out of his house. The two others killed were "what we would call deacons" said Neosho Police Chief Dave McCracken. Police refused to release their names as relatives were still being notified.
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. The gunman, in his 40s and believed to be from the Pacific islands has surrendered and was being held at the nearby Newton County Jail, said Neosho Police Chief Dave McCracken.
POLICE STANDOFF
He surrendered after a tense standoff with police. Up to 50 worshippers were briefly held
hostage, although several of them, including children and injured people, apparently managed to escape during the incident and following the shootings, police said.
Officials removed bodies from the brick-and-white trim church into a waiting funeral parlor van Sunday evening, August 12, reporters said.
McCracken said it had been at least 14 years since the last murder in the city limits of Neosho, the regional news paper Neosho Daily News (http://www.neoshodailynews.com) reported. ”This is a terrible tragedy which was made worse by the fact that it happened in a peaceful place of faith and worship,’’ Missouri Governor Matt Blunt told reporters.
MOTIVE UNCLEAR
Investigators said the motive behind the attack was not immediately clear and church officials were not available for comment.
However McCracken suggested that the an incident involving the suspect and a family that attended the First Congregational Church on Saturday night, August 11, apparently fueled the shooting Sunday, August 12.
There have been several church shootings in the United States at a time of debate on gun control in the country. The gunman responsible for Sunday’s shooting had reportedly two small caliber handguns, and one 9 mm semi-automatic pistol with a large magazine.
MORE SHOOTINGS
Elsewhere this weekend in the city of Newark friends, family and strangers were filling three Baptist churches and spilling onto the street for funeral services of students Terrance Aeriel, 18, Dashon Harvey, 20 and Iofemi Hightower, 20, who were killed execution style 10 days ago.
They were confronted by several attackers, and the three were lined up against a low wall behind the school, forced to kneel and shot in the head. "Get this evil out of my city," Mayor Cory Booker was heard telling nearly 1000 mourners at the funeral for the youngest of the three victims, Tarrance Aeriel.
In Dallas on Sunday, August 12, a man with a shotgun opened fire on motorists and police, described as "Good Samaritans" who stopped to help with what appeared to be a wreck on a downtown freeway. Two people were killed, and two others wounded before the gunman, 20-year-old Nick A. Salinas of Cedar Hill, killed himself, police said.
Churches have expressed concerns about what they see as growing violence in the United States. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).
