KNOXVILLE: County Offices Evacuated After Bomb Threat Over Gay Pride Event

A reader tips us to this news item from two weeks ago:

The City County Building was evacuated Wednesday afternoon following a bomb threat apparently aimed at Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero’s support for the upcoming Pridefest parade downtown, police said. Staffers throughout the downtown government office building were told to leave early for the day about 4 p.m. in response to an email threat sent to the mayor’s office, Knoxville Police Department Capt. Nate Allen said. The threat stated that, “Someone disagreed with the city’s stance on the LGBT parade,” Allen said. “And with that disagreement the person threatened to blow the City County Building up.” KPD and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office personnel and bomb-sniffing dogs searched the offices floor by floor before reopening the building shortly after 5 p.m.

According to my source, who wishes to be identified as a "rainbow cop," the email claimed that a bomb would be detonated "in two hours" unless the mayor issued a Twitter statement that "fags and other criminals of God and nature are not welcome in this city." Knoxville's pride parade takes place on June 21st.

Knoxville Mayor Celebrates Pride

"In our City Hall, it's OK to say 'gay'!"

(Via Towleroad)

Lesbian Couple Sues Alleged Arsonist

A lesbian couple in Tennessee has filed a lawsuit against the neighbor they believe burned down their house after repeatedly threatening to kill them.

The Stuttes have been together 16 years, and while they’re not legally married, they did celebrate a civil ceremony at the Unitarian Universalist church in Oklahoma City. The complaint does allege taunts made by Millsaps that specifically targeted the Stuttes’ sexual orientation. For example, a month before the fire, on Aug. 4, they allege, Millsaps, whose double wide mobile home rests about 20 feet from the gate leading to the Stuttes’ property, approached them as they stopped to close their front gate. She poked at the Stuttes, alleges the complaint, and asked them, “Do you know what is better than one dead queer? Two dead queers.” The complaint notes that she then threatened to burn their house down, laughed, and returned to her house.

The FBI has yet to classify the fire as arson and the couple's insurance company has yet to pay their claim for the destroyed house. The suit seeks over $1M for damages and for "intentional infliction of emotional distress and malicious harassment." It also seeks compensation for a $7000 insulin pump they contend the alleged arsonist intercepted from a UPS delivery.

(Tipped by JMG reader Will)

Transwoman Gives Eyewitness Account Of Knoxville Church Shooting

Michelangelo Signorile has interviewed Carla Lewis, a transgender woman who was inside the Knoxville Unitarian Church when last week's shooting happened. Signorile:

This is a clip from my interview with Carla Lewis, who was inside the Tennessee Valley Universalist Unitarian Church when a gunman opened fire little over a week ago. She came on the program last week to take us through the tragic event, talk about the gunman's motives of hatred against gays and liberals and tell us a bit about hero Greg McKendry. The 60-year-old church volunteer was killed in the shooting, jumping in front of the gunman to protect others. He and his wife had recently taken in a transgender foster child.

Carla, a transgender woman and a lesbian, runs the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition web site, and is a regular listener to the show. She began by telling us about the service, which was a production of "Annie," in which children were participating. Carla and her partner Jamie had arrived a bit late to church that day. They were still standing, when the gunman, 58-year old James Adkisson, a man brought up in a Christian fundamentalist home and who had recently had some hard times, walked in behind them.

Gay Church Demands To Know Contents Of Church Shooter's Letter

Police won't release the contents of the letter left by the Knoxville church shooter and the local gay church wants to know what it says.

The man who ministers to East Tennessee's largest gay and lesbian congregation says his church won't rest easy until members know what Jim David Adkisson wrote. "The more clarity, the better," said the Rev. Bob Galloway, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in West Knoxville. "We need to know what we're dealing with. Is it just liberals he was targeting? Is it just gays? Was it all these things mixed together? We need to know." Galloway said his church serves about 180 people from around East Tennessee, about 85 percent of them gay or lesbian. Some of his parishioners turned around on the way to church and went home Sunday morning when they heard a man had shot up a liberal, gay-friendly church on the west side of town. "They thought it was us," Galloway said.

The Knoxville police chief says, "If you needed to know, you would have been notified." I have a feeling that the local DA may not want to taint the jury pool with the contents of the letter. That, or they don't want to provide the "liberal media" with some major talking points.

Tennessee: Two Killed, Seven Injured In Shooting At Gay Friendly Church, Shooter's Letter Says He Hates Liberals And Gays

Days after the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville put up a sign welcoming gays to worship, yesterday a gunman shouting "hateful words" killed two people and injured seven others during a youth performance of the musical Annie at the church. The gunman was tackled by congregants and eventually taken into police custody.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged with first-degree murder and was being held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if the suspect had retained an attorney. Authorities were searching Adkisson’s home in the Knoxville bedroom community of Powell, Kenner said.

The man slain was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper told The Associated Press that McKendry “stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us.” Linda Kreager, 61, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center a few hours after the shooting, Knoxville city spokesman Randall Kenner said. Five people remained hospitalized, all in critical or serious condition. Two others were treated and released.

The gunman’s motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its Web site.

Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire. “It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things,” she said, but refused to elaborate. The FBI was assisting in the case in case it turns out be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said. Police were taking statements from witnesses and collecting video cameras from church members who taped the performance. There were about 200 people watching a performance by 25 children based on the musical “Annie” when the shooting took place.

Tennessee LGBT newspaper Out & About notes that gunman was not a member of the church. I'll have more on this story as it develops.

UPDATE: According to Knoxville police chief Stewart Owen, a letter found in the shooter's car professed his hatred of liberals and gays.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, of Powell wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his “hatred of the liberal movement,” Owen said. “Liberals in general, as well as gays.” Adkisson said he also was frustrated about not being able to obtain a job, Owen said.

The letter, recovered from Adkisson’s black 2004 Ford Escape, which was parked in the church’s parking lot at 2931 Kingston Pike, indicates he had been planning the shooting for about a week. “He fully expected to be killed by the responding police,” the police chief said.

Owen said Adkisson specifically targeted the church for its beliefs, rather than a particular member of the congregation. “It appears that church had received some publicity regarding its liberal stance,” the chief said. The church has a “gays welcome” sign and regularly runs announcements in the News Sentinel about meetings of the Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays meetings at the church.