Man pleads guilty to Unitarian church shooting

(RNS) A man who was angry over a Unitarian church’s liberal stances on women’s issues and gay marriage pleaded guilty Monday (Feb. 9) to a church shooting that killed two people and wounded six others last July. Jim D. Adkisson, who was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder, […]

(RNS) A man who was angry over a Unitarian church’s liberal stances on women’s issues and gay marriage pleaded guilty Monday (Feb. 9) to a church shooting that killed two people and wounded six others last July.

Jim D. Adkisson, who was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder, now faces life in prison without parole for the shooting deaths at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tenn.

As part of the plea agreement, Adkisson was spared the death penalty.


The shooter acknowledged his actions constituted a “hate crime,” according to the Associated Press.

His broader mission was to kill high-ranking government officials opposed to his political beliefs. Among those he blacklisted as his targets were “every Democrat in the House and Senate … (and) everyone in the mainstream media,” he said, according to the AP.

When he realized these officials were “inaccessible,” he narrowed his focus on “the foot soldiers, the chicken (expletive) liberals that vote in these traitorous people.” He called the church “a den of un-American vipers,”the AP reported.

Bill Dockery, who serves as public relations director at the Knoxville church, said the congregation has emerged as a stronger community from the tragedy. He expressed gratitude for members of other faiths who offered their support to the church.

“We feel Mr. Adkisson basically has anger and hatred beyond the scope of our understanding,” Dockery said.

Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said it was a “blessing” that the Tennessee church was spared a lengthy trial in the case.

“The court system has done its job of defining what justice will be in this case,” Sinkford said in a statement. “Now it is the task of our congregations and of religious people in general, to work toward healing, and to find a religious voice that can help bring such violence to an end.”

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