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Gunman attacks southwestern Missouri church, 3 killed
NEOSHO, Mo. (AP) – A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing three people and wounding several others, authorities said.
One of the victims was Kernal Rehobson, 44, of Goodman, who led the congregation of predominantly Micronesian worshippers holding the service at the First Congregational Church, police said.
The other two victims were male members of the congregation, who were “what we would call deacons,” said Dave McCracken, Neosho police chief. Their names were not released because relatives were still being notified.
The suspect is a man in his 40s who was from the Pacific islands, McCracken said.
The gunman ordered all the children out of the church before he started shooting and briefly held between 25 to 50 people hostage before surrendering, he said.
McCracken said at least five people, all adults, were injured, and police have been told the five will recover. Others who were injured may have fled before police secured the church, he said.
Rehobson was shot multiple times and was dead at the scene, Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges said.
Rehobson had led the group of Micronesians for about 15 years and ran a Micronesian store out of his house in Goodman, said Larry Zuniga, 42, who worked with Rehobson at Wal-Mart.
The congregation used to meet at Rehobson’s house and was using the First Congregational Church for worship while it searched for a permanent home, Zuniga said.
“Kernal was responsible for the Islanders,” Zuniga told the Neosho Daily News. “He was like a pastor for this church. Anything that happened with anyone in the community, he was the one they always called.”
Sunday evening, men from the coroner and the Missouri State Highway Patrol were seen removing two covered bodies from the brick-and-white trim church in downtown Neosho into a waiting funeral parlor van.
The shooter was being held at the Newton County Jail. No charges had been filed Sunday, McCracken said.
McCracken said the gunman had two small-caliber handguns and one 9 mm semi-automatic machine pistol with a large magazine.
“This was a tragedy as far as those killed and injured but it could have been a lot worse,” he said.
The shooting came during a 1 p.m. service, which was attended by about 50 people, ranging in age from children to the elderly.
Patty Mendoza, 35, whose friend attends the service, said many Micronesians live in Neosho.
“There are a lot of islanders that come here,” she said. “It’s terrible. I can’t imagine what it was about.”
The gunman surrendered to authorities after about 10 minutes of negotiation.
“At the time that the rescue attempt was successful we had approximately 20 people in the sanctuary still,” he said. “We had some people who escaped the crime scene prior to the police arrival that were wounded, and we had some people escape during the process and at the time of the rescue.
He said no one was injured during the arrest.
McCracken said he could not confirm if the gunman was a member of the church. But he said an incident involving the suspect and a family that attended the First Congregational Church on Saturday night fueled the incident Sunday.
“At this point though, we don’t have any information more than that,” McCracken said. “The incident happened in the county, but I do not have this information at this time.”
McCracken said it was the first homicide in Neosho city limits in 14 years.
Calls to the church went unanswered.
“This is a terrible tragedy which was made worse by the fact that it happened in a peaceful place of faith and worship,” Gov. Matt Blunt said in a statement issued Sunday.
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